Homecoming as students know it today hasn’t always been as it is now. Undergoing numerous name-changes and court-makeups since the 1940s, the annual Homecoming Dance has been changed again this year. The Semper club, in charge of planning the dance opened the homecoming court up to all grades, and the binary of the king and queen tradition has been abolished. 

Ms. Keasler, Sempar club advisor, discusses the reasoning behind the club’s decision. 

“Homecoming is the one event that is meant to be for all four grades. Freshmen are the ones who mainly attend the dance, and we want them to feel represented. Everyone will get their chance to be on the prom court junior or senior year, but for an event that’s supposed to celebrate the whole school, we want to see the whole school involved,” Keasler said. 

Some seniors, such as Carly Carter in ASB, were apprehensive at first when approaching the change of including underclassmen in the courts.

“I was disappointed at first because homecoming royalty was something I had been waiting to experience for when I got to be an upperclassman, and it was a privilege that only upperclassmen got to have. But, I realized that so much around school has been changing after COVID-19 and everything got a reset,” Carter said, “Whether it be events or traditions or our new ASB advisor, a lot has changed already and this change definitely has the potential to be a good change.”

To Carter, homecoming court is an opportunity to honor students who have been involved around campus. 

“I think that it can definitely become a popularity contest at times, but it’s about who’s really made a positive impact on campus and who’s putting themselves out there by helping others with schoolwork or going to different clubs around campus. Sometimes that does end up being the people who are considered popular and sometimes it doesn’t,” Carter said.

Sophomore Ava Mathew, who was able to be nominated for homecoming court due to the change, felt the excitement of the event and new circumstance firsthand.  

“The underclassmen have never been to homecoming before, so it was really cool to get the younger grades involved because I know that freshmen and sophomores are still on edge about being in school,” Mathew said. 

ASB also made the switch to the neutral term “homecoming royalty” rather than king and queen. This decision was made to include all students, regardless of their gender identity. 

“We’re putting it out there that once people are nominated, they can pick whether they want to be a king or queen or stay as royalty. It’s easy and flexible. We don’t want to exclude anyone from the homecoming court because it is such a fun thing and great tradition,” Carter said. 

As the world changes, Carter says, RUHS is changing too.

“I think that change always has to start somewhere,” Carter said. “Over time if it goes well then the change will be more accepted and it could be a really great thing for the RUHS community to experience.”