By: Ainsley Northrop

Editor-in-Chief

Starting the year off strong, members of LGHS Leadership hosted the school’s first kickoff tailgate on Sept. 6. This student-run event preceded the first home football game of the season. 

As ASB president, senior Ryan Idemoto played a crucial role in planning the event. He explained, “[ASB Vice President Kiana Behnami] and I started working on it at the end of last school year and through the summer…[Since] the school year started, it’s been every single day. Even when we didn’t have class, we’d still be doing something.” In past years, LGHS hosted a kickoff dance, and last year, they organized the Cats Carnival, which was open to the entire Los Gatos community. Idemoto described this year’s switch up: “The approach we wanted to do this year was something more enclosed to students, something more personal, something more engaging, and [something with] food and things that are free.” He emphasized, “You want to do something for your students, not have the students do things for us.”

Organizing the tailgate required a large and dedicated team. To prepare for the event, leadership students did everything from coordinating with food truck businesses to brainstorming carnival games. Working in conjunction with leadership advisors Kasey Rice and Katie Marden, the team managed the budget and mapped out the event, including its location. Senior Hannah Wells explained, “We decided on the Cat’s Quad because it’s kind of a central place, and it also leads into the football field.” When the day of the event arrived, students spent hours setting up and working stations at the tailgate. Wells detailed, “[While] ASB [monitored], the rest of leadership [worked] the ticket stand, candy machines, popcorn machines, [and] snow cone machines. We also [handed] out wristbands and swag.” 

In order to boost student participation, leadership gave out free swag for the game’s theme and ran various free carnival games. Idemoto added, “[An] incentive to come here [was] that this [was] the only place to get your [student section] wristband. [But, we wanted] to make this a socializing event. Somethings that’s not, you know, necessarily required, but we wanted it to be fun, something that we could make a tradition.” 

The tailgate was a hit with LGHS students. Some student-favorite activities included the paw print airbrush tattoos, cotton candy stand, ring toss, and swag station. Junior Marina Jackson shared her view on the tailgate: “It’s fun, and I really [enjoyed] it. I really appreciate all the people who [did] this.” Another attendee, sophomore Barrett Robinson, deemed the tailgate “the best way” to spend time with friends. Wells concluded, “I think it [got] the whole student body really excited for the first game…with the swag, everyone was decked out and dressed accordingly for the theme so it helped the student body just come together.”