Revere High School (RHS) has revived the Fall Extravaganza, a decades-old tradition that brings the community together at the beginning of the school year.
The Fall Extravaganza is a Revere tradition that dates back to the 1980s. It initially began to showcase Revere athletics, serving as the launching point for the fall sports season. Over the years, the event morphed into a community-wide event, displaying the best of what Revere had to offer. The event began to fade away in the late 2010s, though, and ended with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
In recent years, the efforts of RHS staff members have led to a revival of the decades-old tradition, bringing the event back to the district in a revamped fashion. The newly imagined Fall Extravaganza would still highlight the district and the Fall sports season but also serve as an opportunity for the various clubs and organizations of RHS to interact with the community.
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Revere alum and RHS Social Studies teacher Phil Heyn was the leading force behind the Fall Extravaganza’s return. Having experienced the event as a student and later as a district staff member, he felt the impact of the event first-hand and later the hole it left in its absence. Heyn explained the importance of the event to the Revere community.
“I know there’s a Bath Community Day and a Richfield Community Day, but other than that, what brings all of us together? It’s usually the school district, but what do we have besides sporting events that bring us together? The special thing about the extravaganza is that it does that in a way that allows us to appreciate our district,” Heyn said.
In the nearly five years without the Extravaganza, one of the district’s oldest traditions, RHS developed several new events that helped carry a similar spirit. Traditions like Class Day and the Passing of the Scroll helped build a school identity in the same vein as the Extravaganza. Heyn explained the importance of traditions like these and the lasting impact they can have.
“Traditions, whether it’s family traditions or school traditions, kind of help you form your identity and who you are as a school, or a family, or a person. You can lean on those things you’ve done, you enjoy them, and they make those memories that you always reflect on,” Heyn said.
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While he played a smaller role in setting up the event, RHS principal Doug Faris recognized its importance and the opportunities it provided. Faris explained his appreciation for the event and its impact on RHS.
“It is an opportunity for our school groups to have a unique opportunity where they can showcase and have fun at the tables they’re setting up. It is a chance for the entire community to come and just engage in the school and everything around it. Looking around, it seemed like every club was doing something different and really cool, and it was just super exciting to see how it all came together,” Faris said.
One of the extravaganza’s most unique aspects is its opportunity for organizations big and small within RHS and the community to reach a larger audience. Any group, from varsity sports teams to smaller student groups, has the chance to advertise themselves to the community while finding valuable time to fundraise. RHS Assistant Principal Tiffany George explained the value of opportunities like these and how they can impact students across RHS.
“Certain programs have a bigger spotlight just because of how they operate… events like this give students a chance to see what is available and how many things they can be involved in. It creates space for other programs that aren’t as big to be in the spotlight and for people to see that no matter your preference, you can find something to connect yourself with and find a group of people where you fit in,” George said.
Although the tradition had disappeared for nearly half a decade, memories of past fun and dreams of future opportunities carried the event into its newest iteration, one that looks to reach far into the future.
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