HOMECOMING: Poly High School’s traditions continue to prevail over the years, as evidenced by its remarkable homecoming activities and historic parade.
By Caroline Iglesias, Staff Writer
Riverside Poly has been the home high school for Riverside since the nineteenth century. Opening its doors to the public in 1887, Poly High School holds decades worth of uniquedifferent memories, stories and experiences. “My brother-in-law is 78, and he went to Poly […] Poly has been in our family for over 50 years,” Andrea Gonzalez, a Poly parent, said. Just a simple step on this campus can make one’s mind drift away into imagining the many students who have once walked the same hallways. Beyond Poly’s academic history, the school continues a handful of traditions, a major one being the homecoming parade. The parade is an event held once a year as part of the homecoming festivities usually held in October. It is a celebration that acknowledges two senior nominees from each club, the school cheerleaders, the floats made by each class, the marching band, Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) and the football players.
Poly is the only school in Riverside Unified School District (RUSD) that does a parade. It is a way of separating Poly from other high schools. “When we moved to Riverside in the ‘90s, my husband, being a plumber, had a lot of principals as customers. We’d go to different homecoming games, and Poly’s was definitely the best,” Lisa Quintero, Poly parent, expressed. The parade brings student life and the community together. However for some families, the parade is not only a fun, amusing event, but much more. “Well it’s [Homecoming] just family like this right now and celebrating generation after generation of kids graduating,” Gonzalez noted.
From near and far, families come around once a year to relive their memories and keep their childhood alive within their own friends and families. Once a Poly Bear, always a Poly Bear.