Nate Turner and Mikaela Mizuno were crowned the homecoming king and queen at the homecoming night rally. Tracy High’s homecoming night rally, held on Oct. 14, is one of the most exciting and entertaining rallies of the year.

“I was definitely surprised,” Mizuno said. “Even getting the opportunity to be in the royal court was unexpected. Ultimately, it was a fun experience to be a part of the rally and the parade.”

“I feel honored being crowned homecoming king,” Turner said. “It came as a shock, but the fact that my peers chose me means a lot.”

The night rally included performances by the royal court, dance team, cheer team, and selected clubs. The rally was about an hour and a half long.

“For my first and last night rally, it was definitely one to remember,” senior Areysi Rodriguez said. “The skits turned out great and walking in with all of the seniors was a blast.”

It takes two months to have everything well-planned for the rally. Themes for homecoming were decided over the summer during leadership training. The themes for this year were ESPN for seniors, MTV for juniors, Nickelodeon for sophomores, and Animal Planet for freshmen.

“It took a lot of hard work to get the rally together,” senior Maya Spencer said. “Leadership did a fantastic job organizing everything, and I loved being a part of it.”

Ten students were nominated to be in the royal court. Queen candidates were: Mizuno, Allison Piwowarski, Cameron Price, Courtney Vasquez, and Lindsay Welles. King candidates included: Matt Bongiovanni, Conner Johnson, Abhijot Mann, Myles Spencer, and Turner.

Approximately 25-30 students are involved in each class skit, and those students selected one person to come up with the dance and pick the music. Students practiced on their own time, but each class had to practice in order to get it right.

“We huddled up, picked our songs, then started making up the dances,” senior Destinee Delise said. “We practiced a lot just for the skit while everyone else was making flowers for the float.”

The sophomore class won the skit competition.

“Practicing the skit involved a lot of work and repetition,” sophomore Jordan Troche said.

“Sophomores deserved the win for the skit competition,” Student Activities Director Alayna Carter said. “They worked really hard and there were many students involved in their skit.”

“This year’s homecoming turned out to be amazing,” senior Maria Rodrigues said. “It is one of many memories that I will never forget at Tracy High.”

“It was a great night, I can’t believe this is our last night rally ever,” senior Cecilia Duarte said.