My name was announced from the microphone echoing through the stands of the football stadium, followed by applause and cheering. My mouth was on the floor in disbelief while being embraced in a hug between both my parents. A crown was then placed on my head, catching my hair. The small pinches pulled me back into reality as it quickly set in that I had just won the 2023 Homecoming Royalty.
Homecoming week had yet to start, and I was beyond excited for my senior year homecoming. It all began with a simple announcement sent out to the students about participating in the 2023 homecoming court. I immediately knew I was interested in joining because, ever since I was a kid, I had wanted to win homecoming queen. After signing up, I was sent a chain of emails along with the other participating students. The emails consisted of game day preparation, pep rally relay race information, and forms we had to fill out about ourselves. I was overall intrigued by the whole process. The school week had begun, and the hallways were filled with students wearing all sorts of fun outfits fitting the spirit day dress code. As each day went by, I grew more and more excited, but with that excitement came nerves. I made sure to fill out the forms and read through the very descriptive instructions for the halftime walk. I knew that being prepared would calm my nerves temporarily. Friday soon rolled around. Walking into school, the first thing I could lay my eyes on was a sea of various shades of gold and yellow. Very quickly, unease returned to my body, sending goosebumps up my arms. My eyes were glued to the clock through each block until the final bell rang, which meant one hour until the pep rally. During that hour, my partner and I made sure we had our gold on support! All members of the homecoming court were to be at the gym before the pep rally started so we could run through the steps of the relay race. The race was finally revealed, and with your partner, you had to go through a series of obstacles while racing three other groups. The first obstacle was a three-legged race followed by a potato sack hop, which led to a towel pull testing your partner’s strength, then we had to complete three tosses, and finally we had to hold our partner’s feet while they wheelbarrow hand walk to the finish line. Before I knew it, I was sitting on a beach being dragged through half of the gym in front of an audience of high schoolers and faculty members. Our first-place position was short-lived once we got to the wheelbarrow hand walk. We eventually tumbled our way over the finish line, flushed-faced and out of breath; we most definitely were not in first. Coming in a close second place, the races were over, leading us to the announcement of the boys homecoming royalty. I was hoping to hear my partner’s name announced, but sadly, our second place streak didn’t stop at the race. Even though I was very happy for the winner, I was more happy that the relay race was finally out of the way. The real preparation finally began when I got home, curling my hair and putting on my dress. I was beyond excited, and my nerves melted away. 7:00 p.m. finally rolled around, accompanied by my escorts, aka my mom and dad. We found our seats on the sidelines before the game started; all the girls were wearing their sashes and looked amazing. During the whole first half of the game, my mind was filled with all different scenarios of who was going to win, if the announcer would pronounce my name correctly, and so much more. The final buzzer went off, declaring halftime. The football players marched off as we pranced onto the side of the field and prepared to walk on. Alphabetically lined up, I watched as the first girl walked across the field with her parents as they read her
name, important accomplishments, and what she hoped to do in the future. After watching another girl walk down, it was finally my turn. “Sophia Casciano” was read by the announcer, and we started our descent down the field. A smile glued across my face while the announcer continued to read his script. The moment grew to a close when the flashes of the cameras settled in and a new name was announced. I watched as my friends got their turns to walk, just as I did. After the last script was read, there was no time wasted when announcing royalty. “And the 2023 homecoming royalty is,” filled the silence. At that moment, time was frozen, and I could not believe where I was standing, but my name echoing through the night left me speechless. After winning, the crowd broke out into applause. A tiara, a new sash, and a big bouquet of flowers were all given to me.
After all the hugs and all the pictures were done, I was so excited to win the 2023 homecoming royalty, and I was so happy to have been a part of the homecoming court with my friends.
