Sophomores ‘a-maize’ in Food Network-themed performance

It’s amazing what a difference a year makes.

The Class of 2017 came together and delivered a Quad Day performance for the third day of Homecoming week that exceeded other class’ expectations from their confusing and chaotic freshman Quad Day last year.

“[We] learned freshman year, and that’s what stepped up our game,” class adviser Mandy Armes said. “There were lots of funny jokes and [the actors] seemed to know what was going on. [The Quad Day] was miles above from last year.” 

The skit revolved around a food competition between the Red Team and the Blue Team, both struggling to create the perfect dish. The teams come to realize that teamwork is essential for success and conclude the performance by joining together to achieve “Sophomore Power.” 

The show starred sophomores Saya Sivaram as Red Team captain, Nathan Ching as Blue Team captain and Zach Grob-Lipkins and Dhruva Setlur as celebrity chefs Paula Deen and Gordon Ramsay respectively.

The overall storyline was fairly organized, but technical issues like microphones blaring clouded the script, making the end of the performance hard to understand. Although several props, such as pans, cooking stations and aprons, were intended to illustrate a competition show set to viewers, the props lacked unity.

Despite audio issues, the sophomores’ six energetic dances stole the show. Each one was fast-paced and upbeat, reflecting hours of hard work.

“It’s amazing how people can change so quickly with hard work,” said sophomore Caroline Li, who choreographed the all girls’ dance. “Most of [the dancers] couldn’t keep up with the timing or moves at first, but as we had more practices, everyone put so much effort into [the dance] and got everything down.” 

The main highlight of the dances was the “five-man” stunt routine, which starred sophomores Karan Desai, Apoorv Kwatra, Raymond McCarthy, Eric Wang and Max Vo. The dance showcased each individual’s skills, including breakdancing, popping, Taekwondo and jumping acrobatics. 

“Since everyone specialized at different things, we were able to work together on choreography to display all of them into one sick dance,” Vo said. “The [audience’s] cheers inspired us to kill it out there.”

The significant increase in Quad Day participation, which the class lacked last year, allowed for a spirited and successful line-up. The participation in decorations, however, fell short due to students prioritizing Quad Day. 

"[Homecoming move-in] was hard because we had to create the entrance in less than half an hour, and only 30 people were helping out during the entire weekend,” sophomore class secretary Ellicia Chiu said. “Our [decoration] plan was detailed, but we didn’t have enough people to achieve what we wanted.” 

Despite problems with decorations, the Class of 2017 has set the bar for future performances.

“Freshman year was a steep learning curve, but it allowed people to discover how important Homecoming is for the school, which made Quad Day all the more fun and exciting this year,” Chiu said. “We are already looking forward to see what next year has in store for us.”