‘A community event’: Monroeville, Pitcairn residents enjoy Gateway’s Homecoming festivities

Combine favorable weather with success on the football field, and Gateway High School’s Homecoming weekend was a winner.

A pep rally at Antimarino Stadium the day before the Gators’ 21-10 victory over Penn-Trafford set the pace, as did the immediately following Community Homecoming Carnival, hosted by the Student Government Association.

“The entire idea of Homecoming — especially this year, now that things are starting to get back to normal — is that this is a community event,” assistant principal Joe Rosi said. “It’s not exclusive to the high school, and you can see that here.”

As a matter of fact, the high school’s upper parking lot was packed with people for the carnival, which featured an assortment of booths primarily run by students, offering games, activities, food and drink during the relatively warn and still-sunny early evening of Oct. 6.

“For the kids, it’s an opportunity for them to take some ownership,” Rosi said. “They set these up. They hung the lights. They came up with the games. They’re staffing it. We’re as much as we can trying to make this a student leadership-based opportunity.”

He also credited senior faculty advisers Ann Hurey and Eve Dudek for supervising the organization of the event.

Following the football game, a Homecoming dance took place the following evening, wrapping up what Rosi called “a great week for the kids.”