Hoopcoming 2019 has come and gone- needless to say it was one for the books!  From the dress up days to the basketball games to the nominees, it’s safe to say we here at PHS had a week filled with entertainment and much excitement. Let’s break this down for you!

The Ultimate Road Trip!

This year to excite the Pride and its nominees we hosted the theme ‘Pitman’s Ultimate Road Trip’ along with dress up days. Pitman’s Ultimate Road Trip took place from January 28- February 1.

On Monday January 28, the first stop for the pride was to Portland,Oregon. Pitman students dressed up as hippies, or wore the Oregon Ducks college attire. The lunch activity consisted of music playing for the students and a raffle. Monday ended with the announcing of all the Hoopscoming nominees.

Tuesday January 29, we’re at Dallas, Texas!  Students dressed Western like as cowboys and cowgirls. And we can’t forget about the beloved Dallas Cowboys fans! Fans of the Cowboys representing their teams with jerseys. The lunch activity was hosted by FFA and a Perfect Attendance drive for a lucky winner to win a brand new Toyota Corolla.

On Wednesday January 30, we stopped at New York!  Pitman students dressed fancy, touristic, or as if in broadway. During lunch they announced the hoops coming nominees,a raffle was done, and music played for the students!

It’s Thursday January 31, and we’ve arrived to Los Angeles California. Students  dressed up as if they were in Disneyland, or Rodeo Drive.The lunch activity was a talent show with a raffle and music playing waiting for the next exciting day.

We’ve arrived at our final destination! Las,Vegas Nevada! Pitman was filled with exciting neon pops of color, and sparkly clothes. To end the road trip perfectly we had a Hoopcoming rally during pride time. The Hoops Coming rally was exciting it really showed our Pride.

Kendall De La Rosa, a junior, the 2019 Hoops Coming King told us how he felt about the Hoopcoming dress up days. He said:

“I really like dress up days they’re really fun it helps the nominee laugh and conversate with others within this week.” And his favorite dress up day was Texas.

The next interviewee is Ana Zarate a hoopcoming nominee for the HYLC Club. Zarate felt like the dress up days were ¨really creative and they are definitely ones to remember.¨

“My favorite dress up day was definitely Vegas,” Zarate stated.

Overall the hoops coming dress up days were very exciting, and the Pride enjoyed the dress up days.

The Nominees and Court

Next up we have the nominees and Hoopscoming Court! In this competition, girls and boys are chosen to represent either a club or sport that they are a part of and run for the Hoopscoming court, that is pince, princess, king, and queen.

This year’s nominees were:

1. Yaah Adwere – College and Career
2. Cheyanne Alexio – Color Guard
3. Gracie Alves – Girls Basketball
4. Cassie Brumley – Band
5. Alexia Caballero – Girls Soccer
6. Conner Cook – Boys Golf
7. Avery Carlson – PHAST
8. Lizete Cruz – SAVE Club
9. Madison Cunha – FFA
10. Jordan Davis – ASB
11. Mitchell Day – Game Club
12. Noor El-Nounou – MSA
13. Frances Haydock – Mock Trial
14. James Insell – FCCLA
15. Aman Kaur – Interact
16. Raj Kaur – Girls Tennis
17. Anna Kern – Drama Club
18. Madison King – Volleyball
19. Kendall La Rosa – Blankets of Hope
20. Joelle Lok – Girls Water Polo
21. Nolan Lok- Wrestling
22. Brice Long – Bound by Faith
23. Felipe Lopez – Boys Soccer
24. Mavleen Mann – Girls Track
25. Melissa Parga – Art Club
26. Sakshi Patel – Key Club
27. Amariah Perez – Yearbook
28. Abigail Perry – Track Throwers
29. Elibrone Poolis – Motor Club
30. Sarai Pulido – Choir
31. Vanessa Rosales – Cheer
32. Andrew Rosero – Boys Tennis
33. Sophia Rodriguez – JSA
34. Timothy Sanchez – Journalism
35. Ricky Sangha – Boys Basketball
36. Steele Shumway – Girls Softball
37. Hope Sivils – First Priority
38. Catie Smith – Slam Poetry
39. Collette Sommerville – Girls Golf
40. Shannon Sondeno – Girls Swim
41. Abigail Soria – Music Club
42. Nick Tullio – Baseball
43. Jenna Wade – Choir
44. Alexandria Wallen – HOSA
45. Andrew Wang – Film Club
46. Quincey Williams – Boys Track
47. Ethan Woodruff – Boys Swim
48. Sherly Yaghoubi – FBLA
49. Lina Yang – GSA
50. Ana Zarate – HYLC

All of these students were chosen to represent their club or sport because of their hard work and dedication. These juniors and seniors make time for school and their extracurricular activity and manage to shine in both. From early morning field days to late night practices these young adults always find a way to shine.

That being said, after a long week of voting, this year’s Hoopscoming court was announced last Friday at the rally. The winners were:

• Gracie Alves from Girls Basketball – Hoopscoming Princess
• Felipe Lopez from Boys Soccer – Hoopscoming Prince
• Noor El-Nounou from MSA – Hoopscoming Queen
• Kendall La Rosa from Blankets of Hope – Hoopscoming King

After being announced royalty, Kendall La Rosa and Noor El-Nounou gladly answered a few questions we had for them.

La Rosa commented, “I represented Blankets of Love. To be honest, I was super shocked. I did not expect to win… but it was really fun. It was an experience that I will never forget.”

El-Nounou also said,¨ I represented the MSA, Muslim Student Association. Upon winning I would say that I felt very, very honored and extremely surprised.¨

Noor and Kendall are both two students deserving of their crowning. Not only is Noor a part of the MSA, but she is also Pitman’s ASB president. Apart from that El-Nounou can always be found helping others out or making everyone feel welcome.

Much like Noor, Kendall is also involved in other activities such as wrestling. This past weekend he and seven of his classmates took first place in each of their weight divisions in the CCAL championship.

This 2019 Hoopscoming will be something all of these students will never forget. Due to all of their hard work and perseverance to shine, each and everyone of them deserved the spots they got as nominees. So congratulations to the winners and everyone who participated!

The Game

This year’s Hoopscoming game at Pitman High had everyone on the edge of their seats! The basketball game against Modesto High landed on the first day of February. Pitman ended up only taking one loss and sadly, it was the game that most people came to see.

The freshman team started off having a difficult time and were going back and forth against Modesto. After the Modesto cheerleaders performed halftime, the boys came back on the court and consistently kept shooting baskets. Eventually, the boys were up by ten points and won!

The JV team had no problem beating Modesto during this game. From the start of the game, everyone in the stands knew, without a doubt, that the JV team would be taking the win. The final score for the game was twenty-six to forty-two.

After the JV game, the Pit Crew started getting bigger and the stands started filling up with more people. By halftime, the score was thirty-six to thirty-one with pitman winning.

Erik Ontiveros, a sophomore on the varsity team, said:

“We walked in thinking we were gonna win and by halftime, we still thought we were. As a team we were pumped up. Our adrenaline was running and the crowd was cheering us on. We had been doing pretty well and we felt good.”

Throughout the game, Modesto High had been coming back and catching up, so no one felt too confident that the Pitman Varsity boys would win. By the third quarter, Pitman was only beating Modesto by one point and everyone was starting to get nervous. Sadly, the opposing team ended up catching up to Pitman and won with the score of sixty-three to fifty-seven.

“We felt pretty bummed, especially after thinking we were gonna win. Our coaches told us that we either win or we learn and we definitely learned,” said Ontiveros.

Even though the varsity basketball team lost, everyone kept supporting them and the band still played afterwards!