Homecoming has many aspects to it including dress-up days, the infamous football game, and the crowning of a Homecoming Queen, and this year, Homecoming King, as well.
There are many steps to crowning the Queen and King. First, each club and sport was instructed to nominate two people- one female, and one male. After that, the senior class must narrow it down to five people for Queen and five people for King.
Before the seniors voted for the Top Five, the nominees got together for the annual luncheon today, Friday, September 3 during lunch, so they could bond and get to know each other.
ASB had divided the tasks for Homecoming into committees, one of them being the Luncheon Committee.
Brooke O’Leary, ’22 was the head of the Luncheon Committee, and was as well a nominee for Homecoming Queen.
“It’s [the nomination] awesome. I’m really happy I got nominated. I got nominated by tennis, it’s my favorite sport and something I love to do,” O’Leary says.
She had to do a lot to put the luncheon together, “I worked very closely with Alyssa Sozinho [’23] to prepare this. We basically started with figuring out where we wanted to eat, a lot of stuff got switched up because of COVID- we couldn’t do pretty much anything.”
COVID-19 has put a strain on school activities. Many things aren’t the same as they used to be, including the luncheon.
O’Leary says, “We had to make sure everything was individually wrapped, we couldn’t do any hot food because no vendors [could] come on campus, so we ended up with sandwiches, which isn’t what we really wanted, but what we had to do.”
Nothing is a Redwood event without the amazing decorations that ASB puts up, “We had to figure out the decorations, the seating,” O’Leary states.
ASB goes all out with the luncheon, so everybody can feel like they are a part of Homecoming, even though there will only be two people in the end.
O’Leary says, “I’m excited to be a part of it [the luncheon]. I’m glad I got nominated and joined everyone, like actually be a part of my own hard work.”
As O’Leary had stated, Alyssa Sozinho, ’23 worked very closely with her on planning the luncheon.
Sozinho described the event, “This is our week-before Homecoming luncheon for all of the nominees- girls and guys. They all get together so they can talk, we’re basically doing this to preserve the Redwood tradition.”
Some people might not see or think that these traditions are important to Redwood culture. Sozinho says, “People wonder like ‘why is ASB feeding 140 kids just because they were nominated by a club?'”
Her answer to this is, “We are preserving this [the luncheon] because this is what we’ve always done. This is our Homecoming tradition, it’s what we do.”
The luncheon really is a Redwood tradition, Sozinho remembers setting up the Homecoming luncheon her freshman year.
“I love seeing all of these girls and guys come together, and they can like eat and hang out. They just share a meal. Something really brings people together when they share a meal,” Sozinho says.
The luncheon was a really nice thing to see, classmates coming together and celebrating the traditions of their school.
O’Leary and Sozinho loved putting the luncheon together and continuing a fun Ranger tradition.
Ayla Ozturk
Ayla Ozturk, class of 2024, is a fourth-year journalism student passionate about leading the News section. She is dedicated to informing students and amplifying their voices through Government and Politics writing.
You can reach her at ayla.oz3769@vusd.us.
Tags: ayla ozturk, government and politics, homecoming, homecoming king, homecoming luncheon, homecoming queen, homecoming week 2021, Redwood, redwood gigantea, redwood journalism, redwood rangers, student government
