Students Add Stand Against Violence to School Tradition : Campuses: It’s Homecoming Week at Hollywood High, where a 17-year-old was shot to death on the first day of classes. Amid hoopla of festivities, hundreds pledge to coexist peacefully.

It is a time of rah-rah, pom-poms, floats and powder-puff football games. A time for wearing the Red and White of Hollywood High.

It is also, for hundreds of students, a time to sign pledges promising peaceful coexistence in the face of violence that claimed one of their fellow student’s lives on the first day of school.

At Hollywood High, this year’s Homecoming Week is an exercise in hanging onto venerable school traditions amid the encroaching urban problems.

“I think kids are really getting fed up with all the violence,” said April Hill, a 15-year-old junior. “We really want a peaceful school.”

On Monday, the students kicked off the annual festivities with a new twist--a lunchtime demonstration.

Under a sunny sky, several hundred teen-agers signed certificates vowing to extend “peace and friendship to my fellow human being.” They pinned yellow ribbons to their clothing to show their dedication to keeping violence off campus.

Students have realized now, more than ever, that they have to hang onto their traditions and set an example for the whole community, said April, the junior class vice president.

Over the past few years, it was difficult to get students to participate in homecoming events, she said. But that has changed in the wake of the shooting.

Nearly 60 students tried out for Homecoming Court this year. Last year, there were only 25. Normally only a few students wear the school colors during Homecoming Week. On Monday, several dozen showed up sporting red and white at the lunchtime rally, which students organized with the help of a group called the Harmony Coalition from Chatsworth.

“We are trying to go back to the things that people are used to,” April said.

The Hollywood High homecoming rituals sound straight out of an earlier era. The freshman girls play the juniors today in a powder-puff football game. On Thursday, there will be a hotdog-eating contest. The big game, against Lincoln High School, is Friday afternoon, after a pep rally and parade.

As the students vowed Monday to keep the peace and relish some high school traditions, signs of the times were close by.

A uniformed Los Angeles Police Department officer and several school security officers kept a close watch on the gathering, just in case there was trouble. Since 10th-grader Rolando Ruiz, 17, was killed Sept. 7 in front of the school in what is believed to have been a gang-related shooting, police have substantially increased their presence on campus.

Los Angeles Police Capt. Glenn Ackerman said he is hopeful that building interest in school events, such as homecoming, will help keep the teen-agers out of trouble.

“These are the kinds of things that have traditionally existed to build a sense of identity and cohesiveness,” he said. “They allow adolescents to vent their energy in a positive way. It is important to hang on to whatever rituals we have, because we don’t have much in the way of substitutes.”

Mary Susan Carruthers, a 15-year-old sophomore, added: “The shooting really showed me that it could happen anywhere. But by signing these pledges and showing our school spirit, we can make a difference.

“I don’t want to tell my kids that I went to a school where there was no spirit. We may be wearing a gold ribbon on our clothes, but we are also wearing it in our hearts.”