Meet the HoCo Queen Nominees for Redwood High School’s 2026 HoCo Week

As Redwood’s 2026 Homecoming, HoCo, week comes to an end and final voting begins, nominees for HoCo queen share their passion for school spirit and their clubs.

By Greer Olson

Two of Redwood’s Homecoming Queen nominees, Hadlee Galley, ‘27, and Apple Espino, ‘27, were unavailable for interviews at the time of reporting; though they will still appear on student ballots. 

One of the ASB, Associated Student Body, nominees is Samantha Sanchez, ‘27, and she is a four-year ASB student. To Sanchez, being nominated by ASB feels incredibly special because she has dedicated a plentiful amount of her time at Redwood to ASB, “so just knowing that other people in the class have also seen” her working hard makes her feel happy.

But beyond the time she’s put in, Sanchez believes that she has many qualities of a nominee as well. She says that being a nominee means being “someone you could look up to or strive to be,” and as a leader, she represents that.

Sanchez displays the qualities of a good leader by making sure she interacts with all aspects of her community and school. She has friends in “drama, auto mechanics, and many other” aspects beyond ASB. Sanchez doesn’t do this simply because she wants to be known, but because she strives to have diversity in her social life, which she believes “differentiates [herself] from other nominees”.

Sanchez believes herself to be incredibly high-spirited, but besides that, she “loves Redwood with [her] whole heart,“ making her a great candidate for Hoco Queen. 

Stellamarie Vaccaro, ‘27, has spent the week representing Redwood Cheer. She’s been a part of cheer for four years, and while speaking about being chosen to serve as their nominee immediately made her smile endlessly. Vaccaro says that it feels like so much more than a title, as she is representing her “teammates, friends, and school,” and after having made most of her close friends through cheer, it makes her happy to be trusted.

Because these connections she’s made have been so important to her, Vaccaro believes that the importance of being a nominee is displaying the “friendships and leadership” that come out of cheerleading along with “getting to be a model for the school” and everything Redwood stands for. 

In addition to participating in cheer, Vaccaro also has been in Redwood’s Dance program for all of high school, specifically has been in Dance Force for three years. She believes that her involvement in sports and a Redwood program makes her a good candidate. It feels like she is also representing Dance Force, which is “really exciting as well”.

Vaccaro thinks that so much of Redwood is about making connections, and because she is “a good friend to people,” makes her a good representation of Redwood for Hoco Queen.

While also being involved in dance and music, Jillian Craycraft, 27’, is also the nominee for Redwood’s Campus Life club. Craycraft says that she feels “so incredibly blessed” to be chosen by her friends and others to represent them. 

When it comes to the energy Craycraft brings to Redwood, she is incredibly passionate and high-spirited. Craycraft says that being a good leader includes having that high spirit while also being someone people are “able to look up to” and “spread school spirit” across campus. The importance of being a nominee is to both display and spread school spirit as well as being the example for others to see Redwood.

Craycraft describes herself as “fun, caring, kind, energetic, and very charismatic,” which makes her a great candidate for Hoco Queen because she channels all those characteristics into Redwood. She says that she “love[s] everyone at this school and [she] love[s] Redwood” and cares for everyone on campus.

Student voting for nominees closes at 5:00 pm on October 2nd, 2026, and the homecoming game begins at 7:30 pm, where the winners will be announced at halftime. Click here to vote.

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