Last but certainly not least, the homecoming football game brings one of the most favored traditions of the school year: the homecoming halftime show. This year, the show was hyped as ever, bringing out the spirit in all the attending wolverines.

At halftime with the score 7-7, the crowd was anxious for the show to begin. ASB rolled out the red carpet and hauled out the blockbuster themed poster for each grade level. A  mysterious atmosphere was created for the crowd when they turned off the stadium lights and it turned to red lights with flashing strobes.

The show started with the hosts introducing the 2022 senior court: Aiyana Williams, Chloe Gladstone, Marin Rollins, Willow Van Tassel, Liza Turner, Bleu Packer, Aidan lee, Chase Muirbrook, Tanner Shone, and Milad Davaran.

The finalists’ prewritten bios were announced as they walked down one by one in formal gowns and suits with one of their parents and guardians. It was compelling to hear all about all the seniors’ interests and plans for after high school. It was also special to see all of the other students in the crowd roaring for their seniors as they walked down the carpet.

But before the winners were even announced, each grade level did a performance for their theme of the dance. This year, freshmen were fantasy, sophomores were horror, juniors were science fiction, and seniors, of course, were action. 

Class of 2026 played into their theme of fantasy with a “Wizard of Oz” backdrop and dancers dressed up as Dorthy, The Cowardly Lion, and The Tin Man. However, with an odd choice of music, the freshman danced to “Finesse”  and “Runaway Baby,” both by Bruno Mars. 

The sophomores followed this with their horror themed performance to “Spooky Scary Skeletons,” “Ghostbusters,” and “Somebody’s Watching Me” remixes. Wearing all black in front of their backdrop painted with bats, a full moon, and graves, Class of 2025 took the win for the most organized and on theme grade level.

Next was the juniors, with arguably the worst theme, science fiction. They had a big group of dancers to represent them, wearing all black with planets as their backdrop theme. The crew put on an incredible performance to The Jackson 5’s “I want you back.” But, despite being an impressive dance number, the theme didn’t necessarily match science fiction.

The last performance put on by the senior class went hard as always, eliciting a huge commotion from the excited student section. The class of 2023 came out wearing all white and denim to a remix of “Tokyo Drift (Fast & Furious)” by Teriyaki Boyz and “Temperature” by Sean Paul, playing into the action theme. The group ended their energized performance with the song,“See You Again” by Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth while they waved the large head cutout of Paul Walker, a tribute to the late actor’s work in the “Fast & Furious” films.

The senior class was not only on theme but brought the most emotion and pure spirit out of all the classes, earning its rank as the best class show.

Zoe Vovan (9) shared, “I liked the juniors and seniors [best of the acts].”

Madeleine Gougeon (11) also thought, “the junior class, for sure” was the best performance of the halftime show.”

After all the shows, the anticipation for court reveals was as strong as ever and the crowd could not wait. Announced by last school year’s court winner, the 2022-2023 homecoming queen and kings were Aiyana Williams and  Milad Davaran.

Overall, the halftime show was an exciting event that captivated all those in attendance. But, compared to last year and its theme of “dancing through the decades,” it wasn’t able to capitalize on the individual themes for the grade level as well as it could have.

We’ll have to wait till next year to see if the next ruling senior class, 2024, will be able to top this halftime show extravaganza when their turn comes next fall.