Students at Moorestown High School ended spirit week on a high note with two pep rallies and the homecoming football game.
Spirit week was held from Oct. 18 to Oct. 22 and had a different theme for each day. Monday was America Monday and Tuesday was Team Tuesday, when students wore Quaker apparel and other team gear. Wednesday was Holiday Wednesday and Thursday was Throwback Thursday. Friday was Pep Rally Day and students wore class shirts depending on their grade.
Afternoon and evening pep rallies were held outside for social distancing. Students were able to participate in activities such as penalty-kick shootouts and a field goal competition.
Representatives from each grade competed in each event: Freshmen faced off against juniors and sophomores competed against seniors. The winners in each group competed for the final showdown.
Class officer and member of the executive board for student council Keyan Vojdani was excited for students to have fun at both pep rallies.
“Our evening pep rally kicks off with the wing-eating competition, so one representative from each grade will be eating wings,” Vojdani noted. “We also have a list of different events, including spike ball, as well as ultimate Tic-Tac-Toe, ultimate frisbee, an obstacle course, a relay race, girls and boys dodgeball, spike ball and girls’ and boys’ tug-of-war.”
The homecoming dance was held on Oct. 16 and was the first for many Moorestown High students.
“Last year we had an abridged sort of version of the pep rally, which was the last week of school,” said Vojdani. “However, now that we have our pep rally and spirit week back in October, that brings a greater feeling, since we have our certain days as well as the homecoming dance. There was no homecoming dance last year, so obviously it’s a good feeling this year.”
Following both pep rallies, the homecoming football game was held on Oct. 23. The Quakers played the Burlington Township Falcons and the homecoming court ceremony took place at halftime.
The freshmen class representatives were Addison Baer and Kyle Sumerson, the sophomore representatives were Grace Roth and Grady Keebler, and junior representatives were Emilie Griffis and Adam Connor and Peyton Emmel and Evan Schaffer.
Six couples represented the senior class: Alex Bernstein and Emily Blaskovich; Emanuel Budka and Emily Broker; Christopher Doyle and Alexyn Francios; Steven Hansen and Avani Giri; John Pryor, Claire Hurren and Grayson Bunting; and Dominic Sommese and Anna Varrell. Sommese was crowned king and Broker was crowned queen.
Also during halftime, four school alumni were honored, including Jeff Hadden. For 15 years, he taught health and physical education at Moorestown High, before serving as the health and physical education supervisor for the district. Hadden is a resident of Riverton but grew up in Moorestown.
“Overall, there’s a lot of quality to this town and to the school system, and I’m thankful my parents moved here,” he said. “My brothers and I were able to take advantage of everything Moorestown had to offer.”
Also honored was alumna Deanna Knobloch, who was the varsity girls’ lacrosse coach for 28 years before retiring in 2018 and taught health and physical education to sophomores and juniors. Knobloch has called Moorestown home her whole life.
“I just love the feel of this town,” she said. “I grew up going downtown on Main Street. Back then, the football games used to be on Memorial Field, and it was a huge event for us, and some of my greatest memories of this town were being on Main Street.”
“It’s just a really great town, and a town I’m proud to be a part of, and I could never imagine living anywhere else beyond here. I hope that my kids choose one day to come back here as well to live the rest of their lives out.”
