No one else was in the room where it happened.
From a rendition of songs from the musical “Hamilton” to an energy-filled K-pop dance, Palo Alto High School’s annual Quadchella celebration closes out Spring Spirit Week during lunch yesterday on the Quad.
The three-day festival featured a range of student performances, from live bands playing classics like “Semi-Charged Life” by Third Eye Blind and “Mary Jane’s Last Dance” by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, to covers of “Hotel California” by Eagles and “Sparks” by Coldplay.
According to junior Thais Gonzalez, who performed as a part of PALYCE, Paly’s K-pop dance club, Quadchella helped her find community after seeing others on the stage.
“In freshman year two years ago, I was walking through the Quad during Quadchella, and I stopped dead in my tracks,” Gonzalez said. “I really felt like I had found my people.”
Gonzalez said witnessing those performances in 2024 inspired her to become the same influence for others, and the response from the crowd this week made all efforts worthwhile.
“To me, Quadchella is more than a stage to perform; It’s a way to grow the PALYCE community and build it up for the upcoming underclassmen,” Gonzalez said. “A few guys nearby were watching and later asked what song we did. Apparently, the verdict was: ‘It wasn’t that bad, it was pretty good actually.’ We were just so happy that people liked it, so we’ll absolutely take that as a win.”
According to Audio Production teacher Michael Najar, students in his class played a key role behind the scenes in making the event possible by incorporating professional sound systems.
“Without audio production, Quadchella couldn’t happen as well as it could because you have to feel music, you have to be loud and you have to be ready, and that actually takes some expertise — you can’t just turn on a Bluetooth speaker,” Najar said.
Spirit Commissioner Arabella Guinle said she is proud to see Quadchella grow into a more widely recognized event.
Guinle said involving multiple groups across campus in coordinating the event brought people together.
“We started doing that [collaborating with the audio production class] last year because I really wanted a way to make Quadchella a little bit more put together,” Guinle said. “It’s a great way to get the community together.”
