An important part of Wilcox’s Homecoming festivities is the annual skit night, a competition between the four classes to produce the best skit with entertaining dances, well-crafted props, and an interesting plot. This year’s skit night took place in the main gym on October 22, 2024.
Each class presented a fun skit following themes chosen to match their class color. The central subject for class themes this year was sidekicks, or any fictional character that acts as an important companion to the protagonist. The freshman (green) chose Luigi from Super Mario, the sophomores (blue) chose the Genie from Aladdin, the juniors (red) chose Mushu from Mulan, and the seniors (yellow) chose Pikachu from Pokemon. Along with watching skits, this event also features introductions of Homecoming court, and the king and queen are crowned.
The night began with a quick introduction from the MC, Mr. Muralt, and Wilcox’s fight song. Next came Homecoming court introductions. This year’s Homecoming court consists of tuxes Sean Odle, Matthew Tiendas, Paolo Mallari, Yuvaraj Dattapuram, and Todd Beadell, and tiaras Jenna Palacios, Kyra Nguyen, Ava Lily Tran, Tiffany Pham, and Vibha Jayaraj. They were introduced in couples, walking a long red carpet that extended down the center of the main gym as Mr. Muralt discussed each student’s life individually while cute photos of their life were projected. Following another song by the Wilcox band, the skit performances began.
The freshman class skit depicted Luigi and other familiar characters such as Mario and Daisy battling it out against villain Bowser and his friends. Towards the end of their performance, a group of actors ran at least ten laps around the gym during a Mario Kart race between the heroes and the villains. The freshmen danced to “Party In The USA” by Miley Cyrus, and “Crazy In Love” by Beyonce throughout their skit. Although the freshman had less participation than other grades, their overall performance was impressive considering their lack of experience with Homecoming skits in comparison to the other classes.
Next came the sophomores, whose skit revolved around the Genie granting wishes for others, such as helping Aladdin get with Jasmine. Throughout the performance they danced to songs such as “First Person Shooter” by Drake and “Out Of My League” by Fitz and The Tantrums. The skit ended happily with the other characters helping the Genie achieve his wish: getting with the female genie. The main attraction of the sophomore skit was the high amount of class participation, not to mention the two students painted blue to act as the genies!
The junior skit told the story of Mushu working his way to become a guardian of Mulan’s family. Mushu’s efforts consist of consulting the Matchmaker, going to a training camp, and even facing off against enemies. In the end, Mushu’s goal is somewhat achieved; while battling the Huns, Mushu sacrifices himself in order to save his friends, an act fit for becoming a family guardian. Unfortunately for the juniors, their audio cut out in the middle of the skit, just as Mushu “died.” Luckily, Maggie Wu (playing Mulan) and other nearby characters continued acting even in the silence and kept the entertainment value up as other classes cheered them on. The juniors’ dances featured popular songs like “Photograph” by Ed Sheeran, “Classic” by MKTO, and “Sticky” by Drake.
The senior skit began with trouble, as the devious Team Rocket plotted to capture Pikachu. The villains soon face Pikachu and Ash, and the confrontation ends with Team Rocket abducting Ash. With the help of Dr. Proctor, Pikachu is able to rescue his friend and defeat Team Rocket for good in a fierce game of football. “Not Like Us” by Kendrick Lamar was a standout song in the senior dances, along with “That’s What I Like” by Bruno Mars, which was performed in couples.
Each class spent months preparing for skit night by choreographing dances, writing the skit, and practicing endlessly in the weeks as the night approached. Tommer Kerem, the junior who played Mushu, describes some challenges he faced while directing the skit, “A lot of the challenges came from absences or random factors changing. For example, we meant to have a skit practice one day and made it four hours long when we really needed an hour and a half, and we only had about five people there.” Taking the role of writing and directing a class skit is not an easy task, as it involves countless long hours of writing and practice to perfect the performance. Although he experienced struggles with organization and participation, Kerem reflects that, “Homecoming is a crucial part of the high school experience, and it allowed me to make so many new friends and feel like a real part of the class.”
Dances are also an important part of each class skit, counting for the entertainment category of judging the overall performance. Each class had different types of creativity and difficulty in their dances, ranging from quick and complex moves to large formation changes. Sophomore Ella Seng took a leading role in choreographing and teaching dances. She explains, “It was difficult getting people to focus while teaching dances, and people don’t show up.” A common struggle throughout the process of preparing for skit night is the long hours of practice, which some students don’t have the time or motivation to attend consistently. But with the motivation of student council members and other leaders of Homecoming efforts, every grade is always able to pull together a fun and entertaining performance to show off each year.
At the end of the evening, Mr. Muralt announced the Homecoming king and queen to be Todd Beadell and Ava Lily Tran. After a round of applause for each member of the court and the crowning of the king and queen, the events of the evening concluded.
Although Homecoming week and preparation can be stressful, fun events such as skit night are incredibly rewarding and make the experience fun for all participants. Along with raising school spirit, skit night provides something to look forward to as coursework begins to pile up. Participating in the skit is a great way to get more involved in the Wilcox community and grow closer to your class.
At the Homecoming game on Friday, October 25th, it was announced that the junior skit earned 1st place! 2nd place went to the sophomores, 3rd place to the seniors, while 4th place was taken by the freshman. As a whole, skit night of 2024 was a successful and entertaining night!
