Homecoming royalty selection a fun process

You’ve seen them walk down the football field during the homecoming halftime game, and probably never wondered: How do Lamesa High School (LHS) students pick out three students to serve as homecoming princesses and six senior candidates for the possibility of becoming homecoming king and queen?

Well, it’s a long process that can take weeks to organize and three days of voting to complete.

For the average LHS female student, they have three chances of becoming part of the yearly homecoming court as homecoming princesses. The princesses or duchesses represent their freshman, sophomore and junior classes.

They only have one shot at being nominated as homecoming queen contenders during their senior year. And a one in three chance at being crowned homecoming queen.

For boys, the options are much limited. There are no court princes. If they want to serve on the homecoming court, the king title is the only avenue open to them.

The long selection process ended when the names of the 2023 homecoming king and queen, Johnathan Iglesias, 18, and Fashaa Edwards, 17, were announced during Friday night’s homecoming football game. The couple, escorted by their parents, received their crowns and sashes.

Hours before he found out that he was going to wear the crown, Iglesias, who plays right guard on the varsity football team as #67, was a little surprised at becoming a step closer to the kingly role.

“It was shocking. I wasn’t expecting it,” said Iglesias before learning he was homecoming king “It was a good feeling. It was nerves from the beginning. So, it was very shocking.”

He didn’t even bother voting for himself for the title. He cast his lone ballot for one of the queen candidates.

“I just picked a female. I didn’t pick anybody as a homecoming king candidate,” Iglesias said.

Along with the royal title, Iglesias and Edwards get to keep their crowns and sashes. It is a tradition for the previous year’s homecoming queen to crown her successor. Amaya Vasquez, 19, the 2022 homecoming queen, had the honors of crowning this year’s royal couple during the half-time ceremony.

When Vasquez, now a student majoring in business administration at Odessa College, became homecoming queen last year, it was her second time at the bat. She had been nominated during her sophomore year as homecoming princess, but she declined the offer. She decided to “do the Big One” in seeking the homecoming queen title.

“Excited,” she said about being voted as 2022 homecoming queen. “A little bit (surprised) and grateful. It felt great. I like to see the community all together.”

Vasquez wore the same crown and sash she received last year when she was crowned homecoming queen. Her long black evening gown was new.

When it came to selecting the court princesses, Over a dozen candidates were chosen as possible court princesses in each class this year.

This year’s court princesses included ninth grader Kimberly Moreno, 10th grader Melanie Benitez and 11th grader Zoey Sifuentes. Two court attendants, South Elementary School students, Myles Benitez and Nayeli Lopez, were selected from school staff members.

For potential court princesses, it begins with a nomination from their classmates. The candidate with the most votes gets to represent her class on the homecoming court.

“It’s pretty cool knowing I got nominated,” said homecoming king candidate Kaden Vela, 17. “I didn’t tell anybody to go vote for me.

“I really didn’t expect to be in it. It’s pretty fun.”

To become a potential queen and king, first little over 100 seniors nominated their choices. The top three queen and top three king candidates were selected from those nominations. Then all the school’s 500 students, no matter their grade level, got to vote in the final selection. The candidates with the highest votes got the titles. More than 400 votes were cast in the final homecoming king and queen races.

Robert Dimas, 17, didn’t have his sights on the homecoming title. He was actually interested in becoming prom king. The prom king and queen won’t be crowned until the spring.

“I feel pretty honored,” said Dimas about his run for homecoming king. “I guess I feel like that people really want me to be homecoming king. It feels great.”

He’s stepping out of the future prom king race to give his brother, Richard Dimas, a chance at the title.

The process doesn’t stop once your name is selected as possible king or queen.

Just like in politics, there’s the campaigning to do. Most candidates got the word out during homecoming week about their bid for the queen or king title. Two didn’t bother campaigning.

“It was so much fun and the spirit, you could really feel it,” said Senior Class Advisor Amber Johnson. “People were talking about it.”

Campaigning meant homecoming candidates putting up posters in the hallways, and handing out coupons for treats, stickers or key chains with their names on them to fellow students. And even though voting ceased at 3:45 p.m. Thursday, candidates still made appearances by traveling on trailers and in cars in the homecoming parade Thursday evening.

“They really had to campaign,” said Johnson. “They had stickers. They had everything.”

Edwards definitely campaigned. She handed out pens, sparkly bling advertising, “Use this bling to vote for Fashaa.” She did the posters and passed out cupcakes and donuts after school.

“I had a lot of help, too. I had people coming up to me, buying stuff to hand out, helping me out,” she said.

As 2023 homecoming queen candidate, Avryl Castro, 17, campaigned each year to become homecoming princess representing the freshman, sophomore and junior classes. She didn’t get the princess title, but she did become a contender for the homecoming crown.

me, buying stuff to hand out, helping me out,” she said.

As 2023 homecoming queen candidate, Avryl Castro, 17, campaigned each year to become homecoming princess representing the freshman, sophomore and junior classes. She didn’t get the princess title, but she did become a contender for the homecoming crown.

“I was very excited,” Castro said after learning she had a one in three chance of becoming homecoming queen. “I like tried every year (for homecoming princess), but since this is my senior year, I tried harder.

This year, I actually made it” To get the word out about her homecoming queen campaign, she and her mother posted eight posters around campus. She handed out “Hello Kitty” stickers that said “Vote for Avryl.”

Maelynn Rodriguez, 17, was a little surprised when she learned that she was a contender for homecoming queen.

“I was excited and nervous at the same time, but I knew I was excited because it’s my senior year,” she said. “My friends nominated me. The love and support I have for them is priceless.”