With the Homecoming theme of Lights, Camera, Ripon, Ripon High put on a week full of dress up days, fun events, and crowned this year’s Homecoming King and Queen.
Each day of the week had many options for students to show their spirit with dress up days. Monday’s dress up day was dress as a Minion, Tuesday’s was Hawaiian, Wednesday’s was Twin Day, and Thursday’s was Mathlete vs. Athlete. On Friday, students wore the school colors, red and white, as they supported their football and cheer teams.
Continuous rallies raised the students’ anticipation so it was brimming over the edge by the time Thursday came around. Students were anxious to find out which of the court members would become the King and Queen. The Homecoming court consisted of Kylee Brown, Ty Herrin, Ava Keast, Devin Fitzpatrick, Brooklynn Cockriel, Ty Valencia, Lucia Machado Perez, Owen Wilbur, Katie Rhodes, and Xzavier Clark.
The crowning of the homecoming king and queen was completed during Powderpuff on Thursday, Oct. 6th. After much anticipation, Devin Fitzpatrick and Lucia Machado Perez were crowned as the 2023 winners.
Fitzpatrick says, “I was pretty surprised by it myself when I saw the ‘King’ in the envelope. It was a surreal experience.”
Machado Perez states, “I was pretty shocked that I got homecoming queen, but it made me feel really happy and grateful.”
Both Machado Perez and Fitzpatrick are proud to represent the senior class and their advice to future court members would be to stay humble.
The Homecoming parade was a hit for Riponites of all ages. Kicking off the event was the Color Guard from JROTC. Following that came the Ripon High Marching Band led by junior Chloe Lautenslager. She states, “When I first found out [I was leading the band] I was quite nervous, but after about two weeks of practicing I knew the bands got this and we’re gonna do great. And we did!”
Each Elementary school contributed to the parade with their own float. The homecoming court members, along with the king and queen, rode showing off their spirit. The freshman were first to follow with their Minion themed float. The sophomores had a Lilo and Stitch float, the juniors followed with their Liv and Maddie float, and the seniors wrapped it up with their High School Musical float.
