Although COVID-19 caused some changes in Linsly’s traditional homecoming festivities, we were still able to make the best of the situation. Students had their fun for the week without a homecoming dance and showed their school spirit in different themed dress down days. Linsly had its first-ever homecoming parade on Friday, October 16th, 2020.
Here’s what the day looked like from inside the court…
On Friday, the senior class dressed up in fall attire, and us queens wore our homecoming court crowns. After battling the anticipation and nervousness all day, the queens were dismissed early from school to meet our escorts and drivers at the art building. We had many photo opportunities before the parade even began, showing off our crowns and beautiful outfits.
About five minutes before the parade, we entered our convertibles, although Charlie Allison took a different approach and sat in the back of a truck. We exchanged smiles and good luck wishes with each other as Charlie began driving along the parade route.
When it was my turn to begin the parade, I peered around the art building corner and saw hundreds of students from all different grades lined up throughout campus.
Sitting up on the back of the convertible and having my picture taken by tons of my peers, I truly felt like royalty. We paraded down the hill and around Coach Depew’s house, showing off our princess waves that we perfected together throughout the week. I looked back several times to see Molly, BJ, Sophia, and Brinley behind me, slowly making their way down the route.
As we neared the end of the parade, our cars took a final lap around the football field track. I was so surprised and delighted with the number of students, faculty, and parents that came to support us in the bleachers. My biggest surprise that day was seeing my best friend and last year’s homecoming queen, Ally Carson, standing below the bleachers to crown the next queen.
After parking our cars and hoping out, we lined up along the field to walk through the balloon arch with our escorts. I can say with certainty that all of us queens could feel the nervousness rushing through our bodies. When it was my turn to walk with my parents, I tried to keep from laughing at my younger sister, Kelsey, who was making smiling faces at me from the bleachers.
We lined up across the front of the field, and with the help of Mrs. Wallace, each chose a white cardboard box holding a single rose, one of them being the lucky white one. Mrs. Leone’s counted to three, and we opened our boxes.
As soon as I saw the flash of red inside my box, I peered to my right to see which one of my friends would be crowned the homecoming queen. To everyone’s excitement and her own disbelief, Lourdes Giovengo was crowned our 2020 homecoming queen! The entire audience roared with excitement. Ally crowned her with a new, bigger crown, and we all congratulated Lourdes with a big group hug!
Speaking on behalf of my fellow court members and our queen, we had an amazing time. We are so grateful to be able to carry on the long-standing homecoming queen tradition at Linsly.
