Aliso Niguel High School hosted an event prior to the first home football game called the “Tealgate.” The event was on Sept. 1, at 5 p.m. in front of the outdoor basketball courts, with a long line of eager students waiting to get special student section wristbands and Tealgate tickets.
Student section wristbands were given on a first come first serve basis, and allowed students to get access to the actual football game later that night. While Tealgate tickets gave students access to the food and activities prior to the football game.
The entire outdoor basketball court area was transformed into a space for Tealgate. A row of booths were set up to one side, which included extra paid activities such as pieing a teacher in the face. Students could also choose from an assortment of free to play minigames like cornhole. The Tealgate area had a food truck serving hot meals, as well as a truck for shaved ice.
According to ASB student Koosha Kalantar (10), “Tealgate’s main goal was getting everyone hyped for football games all year-round.” When asked approximately how much time was put into organizing the event, he mentioned, “It took us around 2-3 weeks to plan Tealgate, and we had a limited budget since most people bought their Tealgate tickets last minute.” The most conflicting part of planning Tealgate, according to Koosha, was making food arrangements the day of the event, he said, “Our main problem was booking food for the event, most food places like In-N-Out and Habit Grill were booked that day, but we did manage to book OC Tacos and Kona Ice for Tealgate.”
Despite having conflicting booking schedules and a limited budget, ASB managed to make arrangements for food, and keep hungry students satisfied. Students with Tealgate tickets had access to the meals given by the food trucks, and could use tickets in exchange for food.
Along with food and games, there was a facepaint and glitter booth run by Link Crew. Students could pay to have someone paint their faces with teal face paint, and cover their hair with teal glitter and sparkles to show off school spirit.
Member of Link Crew, Brianna Jones (12) said, “Glitter is inexpensive, and it helped us decide how to raise money. I enjoyed helping put glitter in people’s hair, as well as face painting.” Link Crew students took turns helping people decorate themselves in teal. Brianna also stated, “Having assigned shifts made it easier planning wise.”
The students and school staff dedicated their time and effort into making the Tealgate event exciting for the football game, while raising money for the school.
