Homecoming Royalty

by Faith Collins

Homecoming a time young girls dream about winning the crown and getting a beautiful dress that shows off their new prized piece. But homecoming isn’t what the movies portray it as. It isn’t campaigning with little buttons and posters saying “Vote for Me!”

At DWHS, homecoming king and the queen is just a fun competition. But what is the point of homecoming royalty anyways? Is homecoming king and queen just a big popularity contest or is it because the person has a good personality? 

Graduated students think homecoming is a stressful time.“I think it would take a lot of pressure off of students around dances and would be one step towards not separating students,” said Emma Kohalla, a former Highland volleyball player.

“I feel like it’s just a popularity contest,” said a DWHS student. 

One source said it actually hurt their ego if they didn’t get nominated for the crown. Schools all over are now making the homecoming court gender-neutral, where there's no queen or king, but a court instead. The world around us is changing, so why shouldn’t we?

“The only point to homecoming royalty is it's a tradition,” said another DWHS student. But traditions often change. Are traditions meant to keep though? Progress is impossible without change. If we want to better our schools, we might suggest changing the homecoming royalty or altering our ways of voting.

Seniors have a different point of view on this matter. “it’s something you enjoy with people in your class your senior year. For me, it was all about the memories I made,” said a senior from DWHS.

Tayiah Whetstine, the 2017 DWHS homecoming queen wants future candidates to know “It’s not about winning at all. To be honest, after so many years go by, who even remembers who was king or queen without looking at a yearbook? If you go in with a mindset of thinking you have to win, your week will be ruined. Cherish the memories!” 

In a recent survey of DWHS students, out of the 55 respondents, 18 percent, or of the respondents would be in favor of getting rid of homecoming royalty, against the 81 percent that would like to keep it. “That’s mostly the whole reason people from the community gather for the homecoming game. People like to watch the tradition happen year after year.” 

Homecoming is a time to get away from all your schoolwork and have some fun with friends. The crowning of a queen and king is a tradition, and I don’t see it leaving our school anytime soon.