It isn’t often that people are excited to get called into court, but homecoming court is a different story.
Each year, a group of eight exemplary students are picked to be on the LHS homecoming court through teacher and student input. This year, the court included freshmen Lizzie Hendrix and Annika Erickson, sophomores Eleanor Kuhns and Malachi Coker, juniors Beatrice Madden and Ben Zahn and seniors Sigrid Brakenhielm and Madeline Torres.
The members of the court were announced at the homecoming assembly on Oct. 6 in front of the student body. This year’s grand marshals, Ryan Inahara and Cheryl Pupkiewicz, were also announced at the event. The eight students and the grand marshals were not told about their homecoming roles in advance, leaving them shocked when their names were announced.
“I was actually really surprised to be on homecoming court,” said junior Beatrice Madden. “I truly had no idea and it caught me off guard. Especially being in ASB, I thought that I was going to hear the nominees’ names floating around during class, but I really didn’t.”
Homecoming was significantly earlier this year than it typically was. This meant that the court members did not get to ride on a float in the traditional homecoming parade, but they were still celebrated in many other ways.
“Court members get to do a lot of fun things that really enhanced my homecoming experience,” said Madden. “We all got catered lunch and got to be escorted at halftime during the football game!”
Every year at halftime of the homecoming football game, the eight members of the court walk out onto the football field. They are joined by their personal escorts in addition to a fellow Pacer carrying a special box. The boxes of the crowned royalty contain balloons, so that when the court members momentously open the lids, two of them are met with a surprise. This year, those two were Brakenhielm and Zahn.
“It’s cool to be able to be chosen by students and teachers to be a part of the court,” said Zahn. “Seeing the balloons fly out of the box was awesome.”