The Accolade’s 17-member Editorial Board unanimously agrees that adding a homecoming king position to the court, starting with the 2025-2026 school year, is a good implementation, providing more opportunities for students on campus.
It’s about time.
For the first time in Sunny Hills’ history, the homecoming court has a new, much sought-after position: a king.
Ever since the school’s founding in 1959, we have only had homecoming queens and princesses, which has limited options and diversity at our school.
Adding a homecoming king provides more opportunities for the assorted student body at Sunny Hills. Although the current interest among the campus community isn’t high, we believe the school should keep this court position for future years.
Despite ASB [Associated Student Body] allowing both male and female underclassmen and juniors to apply for homecoming royalty — with the first boy nominated in 2023 — there was no exclusive option for homecoming kings. Now, a wider range of options is available.
The new position allows a larger group of Lancers to be part of school activities. In the past, when the homecoming king wasn’t part of the court, students hesitated to run for homecoming queen and princess based on the titles conventionally referring to females, with the exception of Kevin Hur in 2023.
ASB adviser David Fenstermaker said the idea was finally brought into fruition after parents in the Parent Teacher Student Association [PTSA] expressed their desire for a homecoming king.
PTSA president Nivie Jhawar said the idea for adding a homecoming king wasn’t just their idea; rather, it was because many schools nearby have both a homecoming king and queen, and many parents were asking why Sunny Hills didn’t have both positions.
Obviously, just because other schools offer a homecoming king position does not necessarily mean we should automatically implement it. Still, if the students in our area are interested in this position, as demonstrated by other schools that have it, it is essential that we at least try.
Later, on Wednesday, March 26, PTSA asked about the addition of the position during a meeting and was told that it’s been a tradition to have only queens and princesses. Still, principal Craig Weinreich and Fenstemaker answered that they would explore it in the future.
This initiative from PTSA led to the implementation of the homecoming king, which was posted on ASB’s Instagram page on Tuesday, Sept. 30.
“I think it seems like the right thing to offer since it allows all Sunny Hills students to be able to participate at the same level and be part of the homecoming court in the same way,” Jhawar said.
Thereafter, ASB went through its constitutional process by drafting a document and holding a vote in the 5-Star app, successfully including the homecoming king in the SH ASB Constitution.
Now, all positions are referred to as royalty.
In the past, when there was only the homecoming queen and princess, students had no option to become the homecoming king.
For example, senior Kevin Hur won the title of princess during his sophomore year, primarily because there wasn’t an option for him.
“I questioned why there are only positions for girls to run, and I definitely wanted the position to be open to all people,” Hur said.
Clearly, implementing a new position in the court was necessary. No student should have to conform to outdated gender labels just to participate in school traditions.
The new position doesn’t take away any opportunities; rather, it adds more.
According to last year’s Nov. 5 staff editorial, in response to the question on the Parchment service website, “Does participating in homecoming king improve my college chances?”, they 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.”
However, the application rates were low. Fenstermaker said there were four candidates, and compared to the average of 30 candidates for queens, the number of applicants this year was insufficient to even fill the regular ballot.
Fenstermaker said ASB doesn’t want to continue doing things that are not very popular, and if people aren’t interested in participating, it doesn’t make sense to do it.
Still, we should continue this implementation for at least one more year. Even if only four candidates are currently on the court, in later years, posterity will be motivated to run as well. While the numbers may seem discouraging now, every new tradition takes time to gain traction.
Female students have had the chance to run for the court royalty for decades, so it would only be fair to give male students more than just one year of this new option to become a homecoming king.
The Accolade Editorial Board is made up of the top editors and section editors on the 2025-2026 staff, with the guidance of adviser CJ D’Innocente. 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].
