The day of the homecoming parade, the music is pounding, the adrenaline is pumping, and the win is a for sure thing. Beta is very familiar with this feeling, for this year marked Beta’s 4th straight win of first place with perfect scores in creativity, usage of members, banners, float, general effect, and overall.

Beta’s float this year, which was based on the theme of Jurassic Park, featured an electric 10,000-volt gate trapping a dinosaur surrounded by plants, dinosaur eggs, and dinosaur heads as well as a faux-Jeep in the front of the float.

Beta’s introduction consisted of Darth Vader (Isaac Rodriguez) and his storm troopers (Jeffrey Fino, Carlos Moreno, Adrian Gutierrez, Lyvan Arroyo).

All in all, Beta’s performance had Park Rangers, Dinosaurs, and a finale dance. The Park Rangers consisted of Nancy Miranda, Laura Palomino, Ashley Diaz, Grace Marro, Janelyse Baños, Katherine Giron, Jasmine Ortega, Isabella Pujol and Flavia Trujillo.

The Dinosaurs were Janet Rivas, Milenia Lopez, Yaneisy Dampiel, Yoyslaisi Fernandez, Elisa Perez, Fernando Alvarez, Gabriella Hernandez, Wilbert Bernadeau, Kristina Feliciano, Jorge Perez, and Julie. And the Finale included everyone together with the addition of Bianca Torres, who portrayed Claire from Jurassic World (2015.)

Beta’s banners also came out in first place, no doubt due to their three historians. “The backdrops took about a day and a half, while banners took about three,” said historian Maria Rodriguez. “Staying up late was the most challenging. School work doesn’t stop for homecoming; I had to manage all of my work from Beta and from my teachers.”

Indeed being winners takes a lot of time. “Practice was every day, including weekends. From 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. on school days, and the weekend schedule was from 12 p.m. to about 6 or 7,” said choreography manager and Beta corresponding secretary Jennifer Tejada.

“We put 110% into practices,” said Jennifer.  “The last week, before homecoming, practice was until about 11 p.m. at our president’s house, and breaks all throughout were only 5-7 minutes and then back to back run-throughs of the dances.”

Jennifer said, “The hardest part about practice was making sure everyone attended. We had cheerleaders, majorettes, people in sports, and obviously there were emergencies that took place for some dancers. We needed everyone to be there because we needed to know how formations were, how we were going to enter and exit the day of.”

Since Beta has won every year for the past four years, there is bound to be some hate.   “Last year, Beta used metal on their float,” said Interact member Osniel Aparicio. “You weren’t supposed to use metal on your float, so Beta is known for cheating.”

Key President Larry Bravo said, “Rumors are that Beta cheats. Anyone can take $500 out of their pocket and say that those are donations, so in reality everyone cheats. However, I do believe Beta goes over-budget, though.”

Larry will admit though, “I think it’s fair that Beta win’s every year. They put their time, hard work and dedication into Homecoming, always.”

Interact member Maria Maldonado agrees. “In the end, Beta is what represents the school when it comes to clubs and spirit, so they are always going to win, no matter what,” she said.

Beta member won’t argue with that. “We are only in competition with ourselves,” said Beta president Pablo Iraheta.

“We won because we’re the most persistent, most committed club in the entire school,” said junior Laura Palomino who is Beta’s 1^st V.P. “We aren’t satisfied until it’s absolutely perfect. No club puts in as much work and effort as Beta. That’s what makes us the best.”

And it’s not easy to be the best. Beta’s Sergeant at Arms Janet Rivas and this year’s choreographer said that the most difficult part was making a choreography that everyone could understand and easily follow with the time-span that Beta had. “Every dancer tried their hardest,” said Janet. “I was very impressed with some dancers; dancers that I believed wouldn’t be strong, ended up being the leaders and strongest dancers of the whole group.”

Beta’s fourth year differed from the rest. “Our choreography this year was faster and more up-beat than past years. With “Trini Dem Girls” by Nicki Minaj, “Commas” by Future, and “Get Loose” by Lil Jon, our style was more hip-hop.”

Isabella Pujol and Laura Palomino who danced as a Park Rangers said that the hardest part about the choreography was getting everyone to be synchronized.

Kristina Felliciano, who played a pterodactyl, said the hardest part was learning the steps. “I’m not real the dancing type,” she said, “so learning from Janet and Cynthia was tricky. Not only for me, but since the Dino’s choreography was very fast, all of us had a rough time at first.”

Float building this year took place everyday afterschool from about 3 to 9 p.m., and on weekends from 9 a.m. to about 7 p.m.

The hardest part about float building for Beta Treasurer Isaac was definitely working with fiber glass to make the gigantic T-Rex. He said, “If you got fiber glass on your fingers, it would burn and itch and to get it out was a mission.”

For  Beta treasurer Carlos Moreno, “The hard parts were getting the exact materials, getting hurt by hammers, nails, and even splinters from wood.”

On the upside, Isaac said that getting first place really did outweigh the negative. “I felt very accomplished with how everything came in to play together, from the T-Rex, to the plants, eggs, the fence, everything.”

Pablo Iraheta would like to offer a special thanks to Dr. Hueck for being a great advisor. “He was always there when we needed him through ups and downs for the past years.” Pablo also thanks Beta’s alumni who helped greatly, all of his members, dancers, and supporters.