School spirit flourishes at Plum Homecoming event

Plum residents know how to fill a high school parking lot.

Nearly 1,000 members of the community arrived on Oct. 6 to show their support for the Mustangs football team and several other school groups.

The occasion was a Homecoming extravaganza featuring food trucks, performances and a massive bonfire to warm the proceedings as the temperatures started to drop after sunset.

Putting everything together were members of the high school’s cheer, football and music booster organizations.

“This was the first time the event was planned with all three booster groups, and it was a much larger organized event than in prior years,” Alana Zajdel-Letzelter, cheer boosters president, said.

She served as the overall event coordinator but credited her presidential counterparts, Amy Beninati for music and Chevonne Morgan for football, and “countless other individuals” in helping to put everything together.

Highlights included formal performances by all three scholastic cheerleading teams — varsity, junior varsity and middle school — on the high school baseball field. Also, the full band, under the direction of Bethany Loy, played a medley of songs by the Beatles for all to enjoy, including the football players.

“So often, the football team is either in the locker room or on the field during these performances on game day, so it is nice that they can see and appreciate the other organizations’ performances,” Zajdel-Letzelter said.

The Plum Midget Football Association also joined in the fun, running alongside the varsity players as they ran onto the field flanked by cheerleaders and cheered by everyone in attendance.

Also featured was a Paint-a-Pallet contest for student groups, 13 of which participated. Pallets were judged on creativity, school spirit and how well they represented their organization.

Regarding the football game, Plum lost a tough one to South Fayette. But that doesn’t detract from the sense of school spirit demonstrated by the overwhelming attendance at the previous night’s festivities.

“We hope to continue to grow the event each year,” Zajdel-Letzelter said, “as it is an opportunity to bring the entire community together to celebrate that we are all Mustangs.”