North Hills High School has made several modifications to make its process of selecting a homecoming court more equitable and inclusive, and a better representation of the school and its clubs, activities and athletic teams.
The homecoming court will now be gender inclusive. Each year, all student clubs, activities and athletic teams will be invited to nominate any member of their organization to represent that club, activity or team as nominees for the homecoming court. In years prior, organizations were required to nominate a female, who, in many cases, was not a representative from that organization.
Each year, nominees will also be asked to submit a brief video of themselves that will be used to create a compilation video shared with students, families and community members, and on social media recognizing the nominees. In the past, nominees’ photos were taken wearing a shared black shawl and hung in the school lobby where only students were able to view them. The video clips will also allow students to express their individuality and support their club, activity or team.
After the nomination period, all students in grades 9-12 will have the opportunity to vote. In prior years, only seniors were allowed to cast their vote for homecoming court.
Votes will be tallied and the top eight queen nominees and top eight king nominees will make up the final group of 16 students on the homecoming court. Once the court is established, senior students will then vote for one king and one queen.
All nominees from all clubs, activities and teams will participate in the recognition ceremony prior to the homecoming football game. Everyone will take part in a procession as they enter the stadium and each person will be announced. All nominees will receive a flower and have a picture taken to be included in the yearbook. Escorts will not be used. Escorts in previous years were often chosen at random, and not representative of the club, activity or team.
Once all of the candidates have been presented, the second runners up and first runners up will be announced, and the king and queen will be crowned. In previous years, only females were nominated for homecoming court so only a homecoming queen was recognized during the pre-game ceremony. The process for selecting a homecoming king differed and did not include a nomination process. The king was chosen by popular vote and announced at the homecoming dance.
The modifications will remain for future years and were not made in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This year’s homecoming is set for Friday, Oct. 1 and Saturday, Oct. 2. Friday’s pregame festivities will begin at 6:30 p.m. with kick-off at 7 p.m.
Tickets can be purchased in the high school athletics and activities office during the week prior to the game or online now.
North Hills High School’s Homecoming Celebration will be held on Saturday, Oct. 2 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Martorelli Stadium. The event will include food, fun, games, activities and, of course, a DJ! Semi-formal attire is required. Complete information can be found here.