Senior class president Mitchell Richmond celebrates winner of The Tonight Toss. Students who won games received prizes. Photo | Bella Zimmerman

Homecoming week started off with games, laughter and prizes, as the New York-themed celebration fully immersed students and parents in a night of entertainment.

On Oct. 27, students gathered in the auditorium to watch the school’s rendition of “The Tonight Show,” hosted by senior class president Mitchell Richmond. The show featured comedy segments, interactive games and interviews with faculty.

The idea came directly from this year’s homecoming theme, transforming an iconic talk show into an interactive event that encouraged student participation.

“We usually do a few events during homecoming week every every year, but when we saw that the theme was going to be New York, it made sense that we would do something like ‘The Tonight Show,’ that happens in New York, and it’s something that people would actually want to go to,” Richmond said.

Throughout the night, students were invited to join the stage and compete in different interactive games. Activities included “The Tonight Toss,” a cup-toss challenge, “Famous Faceoff,” in which students had to guess celebrities from yes-or-no questions and “Movie in Three,” where students guessed a movie based on a three-word description.

“It was awesome,” Leadership president Loren Lopez said. “We had a lot of people get really competitive with the games, but you could tell they were having fun with it, and that’s what we aim to see with stuff like this.”

Participants were given the opportunity to win different prizes. Senior Dumond Bellefluer took home a keychain as a reward for winning the movie description challenge.

“It felt great,” Bellefleur said. “I went for fun. You can meet new people and have a good time, and winning made it better.”

Alongside games, Assistant Principal Christy Tibbits-Bryce, Athletic Director Jay Getty and Principal Robert Frasca were interviewed in late-night talkshow fashion, answering various questions about homecoming week.

The event served as a kickoff for the week’s New York festivities, including themed dress-up days, a Central Park picnic and a taxi scavenger hunt.

“The goal was to start homecoming week with a good event, and not something that a lot of people didn’t go to,” Richmond said. “Sort of how we’ve done ‘Flick on the 50’s before for homecoming, we wanted it to be something where a lot of people can go and have a good time, and be able to laugh.”