By Lauren Miller (@lomillah)
This year homecoming coronation will be moved to Friday and combined with the pep assembly. This means that the King and Queen will not be announced until that Friday. I talked to Student Council advisor Lyn Scolaro to get answers to some questions around this change.
Q: How did this change first come about?
A: I was told last year at the end of the school year [by administration] that we would be making a change and going back to Friday [for coronation]. For many years ago we didn’t have a pep assembly for homecoming, and about five years ago we decided to have a pep assembly also. So coronation was on Monday [and] the King and Queen could spend the whole week as King and Queen and the pep assembly was on Friday … It was a crazy week, we had assembly on Monday, late arrival on Thursday and another assembly on Friday, the week was nothing but assemblies and it was kind of crazy. So I understand [why] it was then changed to Friday and combined. Coronation will go first, there will be 30 minutes for coronation, and the last 20 minutes we will end the assembly with the pep assembly. My big concern is that we make sure we don’t destroy or ruin the decorations … Because we need to use them for the dance. It’s going to be a lot of stuff going on and we’ll make it work.
Q: How else have you changed or decided to change this year, like the decorations?
A: We don’t know [how the decorations are going to work], it’s a work in progress. But what we have decided to do is we will not be using the full field house. We will be doing from half court forward, but we will still be decorating the whole front and the sides. We’re going to be leaving space for the peppers. It’s a work in progress this year, so we’re trying to figure it out. We have all of our decorations and an idea of where they are going to go, but until that Thursday night [of homecoming week] we’re not sure how it’s going to go. We’re not taking anything away from the seniors, as far as being honor guard and cords. The whole ceremony [like] the code of the Knight, we will definitely continue to do. This is what was asked of us and we will do what we need to to satisfy the best of both worlds; coronation for everyone, the request of the administration, and offer time for the peppers as well.
Q: How has this changed the King and Queen duties now that they are going to be named on Friday?
A: It goes back to the way it was. Friday night at the game, we will still announce them and Saturday at the dance we will do the King-Queen dance. We will see if maybe the next week we can give them a visitor spot in front, we still haven’t talked about that, it’s one of the things on our agenda. We’re going to try to do the best we can and [have] a balance of both. We will revisit [the coronation] later this year and see what we missed, but we’re trying not to miss much other than maybe giving more space for the peppers if we can. [But] We’re very limited on the set up and providing more room because we have [a lot] to keep in consideration. One, we have more students than last year, so that’s going to be a big deal. Secondly, making sure we provide good opportunities for parents to see their kids.
Q: So is that set up a work in progress?
A: It is. And we actually have to go over it again, because we’ve done it so many different times. And the more people we talk to the more people say ‘what about this?’ and ‘did you think about this?’ and ‘where are you going to put this?’ With Around the World theme, we found that we have some pretty big decorations, so we’re going to have to condense a little, but we will make it work … It will be a shock to some of the kids, mostly Juniors and Seniors, Freshman won’t know the difference and Sophomores probably won’t remember. Maybe it will even be better! It’ll work, change is good!
Q: Are you working with the Peppers or is it more of a Student Council thing?
A: Student Council still plans the coronation, so there is no need for us to work together other than the space area, and because it is coronation that is the one that has to determine what the set up is going to be. We’re also being very open and understanding of the Pepper’s needs also. We’re not just going to plan coronation and say, ‘you’re on your own.’ We’re trying to have the vision of what will work best for us and what will work best for them right after us. I’m sure it’s going to work out great because we have a great group of kids working on it.
Q: Is there anything you’d like to add?
A: As far as coronation we just hope that all the students are as well behaved as they usually are because it’s an important part of our Prospect history. And everyone who reads this, if they could please be understanding of all the time and effort that goes into this because we don’t just break down the decorations easily, we still need it for Saturday night.