On Saturday, October 5, Grinnell High School will be having their annual homecoming dance. The dance was preceded by a parade down Main Street on Oct. 3, and the Tiger’s football game taking place at home against Knoxville on Oct. 4.
Leading up to the 9 p.m. dance, students will be picking out their outfits and meeting their friends for pictures and dinner. For some students though, this classic high school event comes with extra responsibility.
Before their appearance in the homecoming parade, The S&B sat down with homecoming court members Yonatan “Jonny” Ambrosio, Lewis Jolly, Sam Wiley, Brock Beck, Adam McFee and Nola Conner, all class of ’20 at Grinnell High School.
As seniors in high school, they are feeling the inevitable pressure of their last year. With college on the horizon, things are pretty uncertain, but they all have one constant in their life: homecoming.
Between just the few members of the court that were present, the students seemed to have most of the school extracurriculars covered. Decked out in spirit wear, they made quite the first impression. Like many other schools across the country, Grinnell has also adopted the popular “VSCO girl” theme.
“The theme was “VSCO or disco,” said Conner. McFee, however, did not approve, stating that he was “boycotting” while sitting in his jeans and t-shirt.
Grinnell High School’s homecoming king and queen nomination process is pretty straightforward. Students from all classes are invited to nominate seniors for the positions, and then seniors vote for the official king and queen.
When asked about who they thought would win, each court member suspected that they may be voted king or queen. The true results, however, won’t be revealed until Friday during coronation, the crowning ceremony for homecoming king and queen.
In fact, coronation is such a big deal that the court members even have two separate outfits; one for the coronation ceremony, and one for the dance itself.
“I’m [going to] look fly as frick,” said Wiley. “I’m really tall and long so it’s really hard to find pants, right? So, I went with dark, dark leather accents. And I’m wearing jewelry just like I am 24/7. This watch? It’s from Denmark. I also have a floral, dark blue shirt with some roses and then a gray tie.”
But curating his look is particularly challenging for Wiley. “Yeah, I have protanopia advanced color-blindness. So, picking out clothes is pretty hard for me,” he said. Luckily, Wiley’s stepmom helped him pick out the outfit.
As for the girls, for the most part they’ll be wearing black dresses, all ordered online. “I modeled my dress on the treadmill in my basement,” said Conner, “and I think it looks pretty good.”
However, not all the court members are sticking to traditional homecoming plans. A couple of the court members are calling themselves the “Last Druids,” and plan on chopping a tree down in a friend’s backyard before consuming a “Viking style dinner.” According to the friends, this plan is not technically related to Dungeons and Dragons but has distinct similarities.
“We want to, like, kill a boar, man. I don’t know, kill a boar and cook it,” said Jolly. “We’re channeling a lot of Viking energy.”
No matter how they are celebrating it though, the court members agree on one thing; that homecoming unites the school.
“It sounds cheesy, but it really does bring us together,” says Wiley. “It’s just fun.” Kickoff for the football game is 7:30.
