Missing the King and Queen

This year, for the first time in my high school career, there was no homecoming court. In years past there was a king and queen from each grade.  The steps to becoming homecoming royalty begin with a nomination. Someone has to nominate you and you have to sign it with your consent. Then ballads are sent to your entire grade during homeroom.  Every student casts one vote for king and queen from the nominees in their grade. The winners from each grade are revealed at the homecoming pep rally. They are brought down in front of the whole school to be presented with their flowers and crowns. It is supposed to be a great honor, an award of congeniality. It should look like those cheesy moments in movies. Unfortunately the students at our school had different intentions for this award. Ever since I was I was a freshman I was hoping to never become homecoming queen because my older sister, who was a junior, informed me that people only get nominated as a joke. Our student body uses homecoming court as a way to publicly humiliate kids. At first I didn’t believe it but each pep assembly proved it to be true. Each kid looked ashamed as sad to have won. This always bothered me. Homecoming is a time when our school is supposed to come together with pride and spirit. We are all eager to win the football game, we can’t wait to get dressed up and go to the dance and the dress up days make school a fun place to be at. I don’t understand why such a happy time would instigate such hostility. Why would students prefer to embarrass someone instead of honor them? What is wrong with selecting a king and queen that embody the qualities that the award was originally intended for? This year the school did not cancel homecoming court. It was there, but no one would give his or her consent to being nominated out of fear of embarrassment. Ultimately I think it was a good thing that no one was acknowledged in front of the whole school for the wrong reasons.  I would rather have a happy pep assembly with no homecoming court than a pep assembly that made students feel miserable. Even though I feel it was good that we didn’t have it this year, I think it is important that it is something we restore. Homecoming king and queen is something kids are aware of from a young age. Movies and television glorify this award to be the highlight of high school. I think it is a terrible shame that our school doesn’t live up to this reputation. I think that if the award were something desirable homecoming would have one more event that makes it so fun. It could only enhance our school spirit. It is a serious issue that we have moved away from tradition and turned it into something bad.