Meet the Top Five Homecoming Nominees

By: Katelyn Weddle

On Friday, April 23rd at 3:45 PM, the top five nominees for Homecoming were announced: Jersey Hays, Anyah Tillman, Kristilyn Hetherington, Kelsey Konishi, and the first male nominee in the history of Redwood, Ahsab Alabedin.  

First nominee, Jersey Hays, ’21 was nominated for Homecoming queen by Ranger Choir. In fact, Hays leads the choral department as the president this year. Hays explains that she has been a part of choir since 7th grade. She says that she was raised in a very musically inclined family. This led her to get involved in beginning women’s Ranger, and Chamber Choir during her time at Redwood. Along with choir, Hays mentions that, “I have been in the musicals the first three years of my high school experience, and water polo, choir, swim, Ag, and FFA. 

When asked if she ever dreamed of being Homecoming queen, Hays says, “On light of recent events, I would say that this year has made me realize that there are bigger things to worry about than the title of ‘Homecoming Queen’. However, I would be kidding myself to say that I had never dreamed of being in the crown.”

With the Homecoming Week theme being “Traditions We Missed”, Hays says, “I am most looking forward to Cowhide Day because I feel like it’s one of the most widely missed traditions from this year.”

Second nominee, Anyah Tillman, ‘21 was nominated for Homecoming queen by the Associated Student Body (ASB) team. Tillman has been in ASB for two years; last year she held the position of Commissioner of Diversity, and this year she is the Treasurer on the Executive Team. This year has been a shift for Tillman, as she notes that “This year, not only due to COVID but as well as getting ready for my journey after high school, I made the executive decision to stop playing sports and being as involved as other years, and instead got a job.”

When the top five were first announced, Tillman got many excited messages from friends and family. She was at work, but she comments that “my Apple Watch was going off like crazy, I would have to say they were just as ecstatic as I was.”

Third nominee, Kristilyn Hetherington, ‘21 was nominated by Redwood Journalism. Hetherington has been the Editor in Chief for the past three years. On top of that, she is a Sports Editor. This means that she is in charge of brainstorming and distributing stories to writers, helping other students with their interviews, editing their stories, and writing stories of her own.

For Homecoming Week, Hetherington says, “I am really looking forward to just spending more time with the nominees, getting to know and meet more people at Redwood through campaigning, and also dressing up throughout the week.”

When asked what makes her a good nominee, Hetherington replied, “I feel super comfortable around different groups of people and I am able to provide the same comfort to them as well. This has allowed me to make many different memories, meet tons of new people, and enjoy tons of experiences by being involved in journalism, sports, and my clubs.”

Hetherington plans to “attend a private school in Los Angeles, Azusa Pacific, in the Fall.” There, she will be double majoring in Journalism and Humanities all through the honors program. Hetherington adds, “My ultimate goal is to work for ESPN of Sportscenter as a sports broadcaster or analyst.” She shares that she is very excited to build off of her current journalism knowledge she learned in high school to help her with her future career.

Fourth nominee, Kelsey Konishi, ’21 was nominated by FFA (Future Farmers of America), as she is the president of this club. Konishi expresses her excitement for Homecoming Week, and all the traditions that will be fit into the week.

Just like Hays, Konishi is most looking forward to Cowhide Day, “I always get so excited for that week during the school year, so I am so glad we still can bring that tradition into this crazy year.”

Konishi adds that she is “super grateful for the week that ASB has put on, and am honored to be a part of it.” She admits that she is a little bummed that the Homecoming Parade will not happen as usual. Konishi “love(s) seeing every aspect of our school come together for a huge parade and all celebrate being Rangers in spirit attire and floats.”

The first male to ever be nominated for Homecoming king in the history of Redwood, Ahsab Alabedin, ’21 was nominated by AVID. Alabedin comments, “It feels very historic to be the first male nominee running for Homecoming king.” While at first running for Homecoming was a joke, Alabedin realizes, “now that I am Top Five, I understand that I should probably take it more seriously, as Homecoming is very important to a lot of people.”

Alabedin admits that he was very shocked and surprised when he heard that he made it into the Top Five. He adds, “It was also kind of funny because someone’s mom got mad that I made it into Top Five, and she commented some hurtful stuff on the RHS Instagram.”

Be on the lookout for campaigning this week, and be ready to vote for Homecoming queen on Thursday April 29th at 8 AM, and the poll will close Friday, the 20th at 3:30 PM.

Tags: clubs & lifestyles, homecoming, homecoming nominees, homecoming queen, homecoming top 5, homecoming week 2021, katelyn weddle, redwood gigantea, redwood journalism, redwood rangers