All but one on The Accolade 17-member Editorial Board agree that the Associated Student Body [ASB] should poll the Student Senate and seriously consider adding a homecoming king to the court starting the 2025-2026 school year, especially since prom has male and female royals on its court for nearly a decade.
The Sunny Hills ASB Constitution, which doesn’t contain a year of origin, covers the student-run association’s fundamental rules from executive cabinet roles’ duties to the impeachment of student officers. It also holds a highly detailed set of requirements for events like cabinet voting, homecoming and prom.
In the case of homecoming and prom, the document only mentions two crowns: a homecoming queen who “must be a senior female” and a prom king who “must be a senior male.”
At this point, some might consider this a mistake because seniors have nominated girls to be on the prom court and become eligible to be crowned prom queen for nearly a decade, according to past Accolade articles. The ASB has allowed underclassmen and juniors — male and female — to apply to be on the homecoming royalty court since 2018 with the first boy nominated in 2023.
But ASB adviser David Fenstermaker told The Accolade in September that the ASB technically has the authority to start holding events or creating titles as long as they aren’t explicitly outlawed in the Constitution.
“I think, to be honest, anything could be on the table,” he said. “You should never say, ‘Oh, this is how we did it this year, and this is how we’re always going to do it.’”
So why not add homecoming king to the table? Since the school’s founding in 1959, we have never had one — that’s 65 years; 15 U.S. presidents have been elected since and no king elected here.
According to its respective ASB’s Instagram posts, every single school in the Fullerton Joint Union High School District [FJUHSD] except for La Vista/La Sierra High School — both of which are not traditional four-year campuses — and Sunny Hills offers equitable opportunities for candidates to seek getting elected homecoming king and queen.
On a Sonora student’s Instagram handle, for example, he clearly campaigns for a royal position in his now-archived Wednesday, Sept. 18, Instagram story with the following words, “Vote me for homecoming king.”
So for our school to join the majority of those in the FJUHSD, For that process to happen, Fenstermaker told us students in his leadership program would be the first to address the issue with him. So we implore cabinet members and other elected student leaders to bring it up and start the movement for change.
We’re not pushing for this update just for the sake of introducing something new on campus. We believe it’s a gender-equality issue. Female students who get crowned queen can add that to their college resume as additional information when they’re submitting their applications through Common App due either in November for those signing up for early action or decision or in January for regular admission deadlines. That’s the same for those applying to public schools in California. Guys have no homecoming-related award to list unless they made it as a royal in their junior year or as an underclassman.
Since the University of California and California State University systems no longer base admissions on SAT or ACT scores, their decisions on who gets in and who doesn’t have relied primarily on students’ essay statements, history of taking rigorous courses and involvement in extracurriculars. That means male senior Lancers will continue to have a slight disadvantage until they get a shot to become a homecoming king.
Obviously, we’re not saying that becoming a queen will get you into Harvard or Yale. But according to some college counseling services, it doesn’t hurt.
In response to the question, “Does participating in Homecoming King improve my college chances?” Parchment service on its website responded, “Participating in high school extracurricular activities can often improve your college chances by proving your commitment, time management and leadership skills to college admissions officers.”
Once Fenstermaker has agreed to address this concern upon getting feedback from his student leaders, then he outlined the next step: “They would ask the students to do a poll, whether on Instagram or the 5-Star app.”
We also suggest going directly to the Student Senate, which according to the ASB Constitution functions to “discuss various issues” as an “advisory group.”
At its bimonthly meetings for representatives from all grade levels to give feedback on and discuss school events and merch, the ASB cabinet can bring up the idea to crown a homecoming king, thus kickstarting a campaign for this group to agree whether this change will make it more equitable for seniors.
Now at this point, some might wonder why we are not advocating for a revision of the ASB’s Constitution. We believe the process to make this change will be speedier without going through that option.
Like the undocumented and quick addition of prom queen and homecoming royalty over the years, ASB members should be able to implement a new homecoming king with relative ease. And considering the benefits of matching the numbers of female and male royalty positions, it’s worth it for students to start thinking about another king.
The prom king has his queen — it’s only fair that the homecoming queen gets a king consort.
The Accolade Editorial Board is made up of the top editors and section editors on the 2024-2025 staff with the guidance of adviser Tommy Li. If you have a question about the board’s decision or an issue for the board to discuss and write about, please send an email to [email protected].
