In the Running for Royalty
November 17, 2021
Homecoming is an event known for its extravagant themes and its renowned homecoming court. After the events of last year, many were all too excited to attend this year’s homecoming dance and run for a spot in the homecoming court, resulting in many candidates.
Running for the title of homecoming Lord is freshman Merrick Martino.
Merrick says that the urge to try new things and witness the outcome of his choice was what made him run for homecoming court. “Just the experience of being involved in homecoming court has shown how exciting it is to run,” Merrick says.
“If I win, the enjoyment of celebrating it would be the best thing I could gain from the experience.”
Running for homecoming Lady are Sophia Castellano, McKenna Gregory, and Gabriela Martinez.
“I thought it’d be a fun experience because I just started high school and we didn’t have anything like that in middle school,” says Sophia when asked why she decided to run for homecoming lady. “I was hoping to meet new people and gain new friends from the kids who were also running.”
McKenna ran for the title of homecoming Lady in hopes of winning with her friend, Merrick. “It was a last minute decision,” McKennna says. “Merrick wanted to do it so he kind of convinced me to go with him. It’s my freshman year so I wanted to try new things and [run].” For McKenna, running for homecoming Lady was all about the experience for her. “Even if I don’t win, that’s fine. I’ll probably just run again in the future.”
Gabriela Martinez says that she wanted to be homecoming Lady because she thought it would be “cool to run for something [her] freshman year of high school.”
“If I win, I would hope that it would encourage people to also run for homecoming and show them that it’s not hard to run for something you want to go after,” says Gabriela.
For homecoming Duke, in the running are sophomores Alex Hershey, Gavin Poore, and Lucas Porven.
“My friend told me to, so I ran for fun,” says Alex Hershey. “Through this I could gain experience and maybe confidence, and also meet new friends and experience something completely new.”
Gavin says that he’s running for homecoming Duke because he believes that homecoming is a great event that he would love to be a part of. “I also want to represent my class,” says Gavin. “Running for homecoming has been a very exciting and a great learning experience. I’ve met a lot of new people and have enjoyed being involved in an event like this. While I do want to win, this whole experience has been very rewarding.”
Lucas ran for the title of homecoming Duke just to have fun. “I’m just having fun with it,” says Lucas. “The thought that I might regret not running bothered me a bit, so YOLO.”
Running for the title of homecoming Duchess is junior Keira Tejeda.
Keira says that running for homecoming Duchess is something she’s been looking forward to for a long time. “It’s something I’ve thought about since middle school,” Keira says. “I thought it’d be a good experience and a good way to just get myself out there.”
Running for the title of homecoming Prince are juniors Marko Barrera, Joshua Dumond, and Tyler Riesgo.
For Marko, running for homecoming took a little bit of persuasion. “At first I didn’t intend on running, but then a lot of [my friends] encouraged me to go and even took it a step further and had already nominated me.”
“It’s a fun experience and it’s something new for me because I haven’t done anything like this before,” Marko says. “If I were to win, I’d feel happy that all the campaigning and everything was worth it.”
Joshua Dumond ran for homecoming Prince for fun with a friend of his. “I just wanted to show people that you don’t need to be popular or known to have the courage to be bold and run for anything,” says Joshua.
Tyler says that one of the reasons he ran for a spot in the homecoming court was to gain redemption for losing his freshman year in high school. “I thought it would be fun to run,” Tyler says. “I also wanted a free ticket to the pep rally and the homecoming game.”
In the running for the title of homecoming Princess are juniors Keanna Clark, Brianna Duran, and Nathalie Portillo.
Keanna says that the main reason she ran for homecoming Princess was to get out of her comfort zone. “I’m closed off with school activities, and through this experience I’m hoping to gain more self confidence,” Keanna says. “Winning would make me very happy.”
For Brianna Duran, running for homecoming was also a way for her to step out of her comfort zone. “I’m running to put myself out there and show myself that I can do things for fun and it won’t hurt me. From this experience I know I’ll gain a fun high school experience with my friends to look back on,” Brianna says.
“I want to prove that it doesn’t matter what type of person you are or how well known you are, you can do it if you’re willing to try.”
Nathalie Portillo says that for her, running for homecoming Princess started off as a joke between her and her volleyball teammates.
“One of the girls was running for homecoming duchess and then I just ran with it and ended up getting nominated,” Nathalie says.
Last, but certainly not least, running for the beloved title of homecoming King are seniors Leo Graham, Domenic Lacayo, and Alyssa Toyos.
For Leo, running for homecoming king was a fun experience to share with his girlfriend and his friends in their last year of high school.
“I just want to have a good time and make a great memory to share with my girlfriend and my friends,” Leo says.
Domenic ran for homecoming King because “it’d be something cool to always remember later in life that [he] did in high school.”
“The excitement of both me and my partner made me run, and to try something different as well,” Domenic says. The whole exciting experience of running and possibly winning the title of homecoming King is something that Domenic is really looking forward to gaining.
For Alyssa Toyos, running for homecoming King started out as a joke between her and her friends. “A girl running for homecoming King is just funny, and I hope I end up in the yearbook as the first girl homecoming king for our school.”
“To end your high school years like that is pretty cool,” Alyssa expresses.
Running for one of the top titles of homecoming Queen are seniors Julianna Gonzalez, Nicole Llanes, Lynsey Silva, and Astrid Villarroel.
For Julianna, running for homecoming Queen was a chance to show people that you don’t have to be popular to get some recognition. “I hope that this crown serves as a beacon of hope for everybody who’s been socially isolated or bullied,” Julianna says.
“I thought running would be a really exciting experience with my boyfriend, and even if I don’t win I had a lovely time!”
One of Nicole’s main reasons for running for homecoming Queen was because it would be something fun to do with her boyfriend of three years, and the idea to run was also encouraged by the people around her.
“We both agreed that it’d be fun and a cool story to tell if we won, and I hope to have a fun time overall!”
“It’s kind of silly,” Lynsey says. “I’m running with my best friend Alyssa. She’s running for King and I’m running for Queen.”
“I just want to show people that if you want to do something, do it. Who cares?” Lynsey advises. “It’ll also be something funny and cool to look back on after high school.”
For Astrid, running for homecoming Queen has been her dream since she immigrated when she was seven years old.
“They told me about the school system and it became my dream to be popular and nice to everyone and to win homecoming queen,” Astrid says. “I’m hoping to gain new friends and learn more about networking with people!”
Soon, the winners and members of this year’s homecoming court will be announced at the homecoming dance on Saturday, November 13th. Good luck to all of the candidates, and congratulations to our future homecoming court!
