MHS’s 2020-21 homecoming season began early February as seniors began casting their nominations for senior homecoming court, and students have since voted in their class of 2021 homecoming royals. For the past month, several seniors have been campaigning and reaching out to voters on social media in a bid to become homecoming royalty.
When ASB planned for homecoming, they considered whether or not MHS should even have a homecoming court this year since there would be no football game to announce it, ASB President Lladro Valle said in a Zoom interview. Once ASB’s senior officers agreed that they wanted a homecoming court, ASB proceeded to lay out the plan for how students could run for and vote on homecoming court, Valle continued.
“It’s usually whoever wants to, can sign up and that’s it, but we wanted it so that … [homecoming court] was a senior-specific event in the beginning, and then the last week or within the last three days of homecoming, that’s when everyone can vote for people,” Valle said. “Within the month of February, we started, and we asked the senior class to nominate who they want to be their homecoming court. … From there, we took the top 40, and then week by week, we asked the campus to continue to narrow down the court nominees.”
One nominee who went on to become homecoming royalty is senior Lynn Nguyen. Nguyen found out about homecoming court in her junior year and originally ran alongside fellow homecoming royal Meggie Nguyen as a joke, she said in a Zoom interview, when homecoming was at the top ten stage. But having made it so far, Nguyen wanted to change the perception of what kind of person could win homecoming, she added.
“I had a good amount of friends, so I knew that if I worked a campaign they would support me, but I always expected the popular-type people would get the roles because that’s how it usually goes,” Nguyen said. “I’m not popular–I call myself well-known–but not like what you would refer to as popular. … Someone like me being able to make it that far–it’s incredible.”
For Nguyen, the path to homecoming royalty involved campaigning over social media, which started off with a simple flyer asking for people to vote for her for homecoming, she said. As her campaign went on, she came up with more creative ideas, like photoshopping herself and her campaign partner into the TV show “Glee” for a poster and making funny videos, Nguyen continued.
“We made a music video—Meggie thought of the idea of creating a parody of a famous song—and so I was like ‘Okay, yeah let’s totally do this,’” Nguyen said. “We thought of the lyrics, and then we recorded together and then edited, and it was great. I think it was really funny.”
Nguyen’s campaign drew a lot of support, even from people she was only acquaintances with, she said. Nguyen’s friends supported her by expanding her campaign’s outreach, voting for her, and wishing her good luck, Nguyen added. Nguyen said that if she won homecoming, she would give back to those who have helped her.
“Maybe I’ll do something big; I’m very unsure,” Nguyen said. “And [if] there’s something that everyone who voted [for] me wants me to do, I’ll totally do it to thank them and then use that as a response to say ‘Wow you guys did this, it wasn’t just me. It was all for you guys.’”
While Nguyen may have won homecoming, there were other students vying for a spot among homecoming royalty, including senior Shivang Pasi. Pasi ran alongside senior Daniel Ly, and one of Nguyen’s campaign videos actually imitated their campaign, Nguyen said.
“Daniel and Shivang did a campaign where they met up, and then Daniel’s in the dark and he’s like ‘I can’t, it’s dark outside and I can’t see anything. I think someone’s behind me’ and then Shivang pops up behind him,” Nguyen said. “So I did something similar where I was in my house in the dark and I was like ‘I’m in my house alone, I don’t know what to do, I think someone’s trying to rob me’ and then Meggie shows up.”
Pasi himself made it into the homecoming top six, and similarly to Nguyen, started running for homecoming as a joke, Pasi said in a Zoom interview. Pasi was surprised by how far he made it, he added.
“One of my friends, Daniel Ly, he texted me and he’s like ‘Yo, let’s run for homecoming,’ and I’m like, ‘Okay you do everything. I’ll just kind of go with the flow,’” Pasi said. “And now, we’re here. I did the same thing with another top ten [member], Jaz Reyes. I was like, ‘Let’s run for homecoming,’ and we ended up getting over here [in the top six].”
Pasi was not even aware that homecoming nominations had started until Ly asked him to run, he said. He did not think of running for homecoming as anything serious, but he continued running for his friends who wanted him to win, Pasi added. Pasi credits his friends the most important part of his campaign, who have supported him by doing things like creating posters for him to post on social media, Pasi continued.
“I’ve just been letting everyone else do advertising for me since they want me to go ahead in homecoming court,” Pasi said. “I feel kind of glad that I have such supportive friends that … are doing so much to try and help me get through this.”
Pasi said that one poster his friends made became the biggest push in his campaign. “There’s a poster of Jaz holding me [bridal style] because we did that in freshman year actually,” he said. “It was our biggest poster I think. …A lot of people were sharing that.”
Pasi’s campaign did not win him the title of homecoming royal, but he said that he would not be surprised if he lost. Despite feeling somewhat disappointed, Pasi said he would congratulate the winner.
In addition to Nguyen and Pasi’s personal campaigns, ASB helped them and other homecoming candidates publicize themselves during ASB events, Valle said. “We wanted to have it so that we give homecoming court events where they can showcase themselves,” Valle said. “We wanted it so that we publicize for them. They can also individually publicize if they want to, but we give them the opportunity so that we represent them.”
One example of how ASB helped homecoming candidates publicize was the class of 2021 homecoming video, which was filmed on campus with all participants wearing masks, Pasi said. Both Nguyen and Pasi participated in the video, which shows the homecoming top ten members as characters out of an ‘80s high school, Pasi said.
While homecoming is over, Nguyen feels that homecoming brought her closer to others she wouldn’t have been able to talk to otherwise, she said. Nguyen feels that ASB’s virtual homecoming was a success, she added.
“At the end of the day, it’s all just a friendly competition, there’s nothing on the stakes,” Nguyen said. “It’s not in terms of ‘Oh my god, if I don’t win my reputation’s ruined.’ There’s nothing serious that’s going on and we’re just here to be friends and to be kind with one another, and I like that about homecoming this year.”