Rochelle Ortega

Why did you run for Hoco court? 

“I was kind of, you know, let me just go for it. You never know what’s gonna happen.” 

Why did you want to win and how did you plan on doing so?

“I want to win just because I want people to see that side of me. People think that you run from Homecoming court because, you’re popular, and that’s not true. I literally just want to run, it makes me be so much more open and outgoing and that’s also a benefit for me.” 

Ortega is the cheer team captain and ran for homecoming court with her boyfriend Donovan Rendon (12).  They have been together since freshman year and aim to be high school sweethearts.

Donovan Rendon

How would you feel if you lost?

 “If we lose, it’d be cool to see them win, we’re friends with everybody on the court.”

Why did you want to win?

 “Me and my girlfriend have been dating since freshman year so it has always been that cool thing to be we’re king and queen so that’s our goal.” 

He had a goal to win and he enjoyed going through this journey with his girlfriend Rochelle. Donovan is a part of ASB and he was very humble about the competition and running with a chance of losing against his friends.

Leia Lopez 

Why did you want to be part of the homecoming court?

“I want to be a part of the homecoming court because I grew up here at South Hills with my older siblings, so I always wanted to be a part of it.” 

“I like being involved in the school I’m the ASB president and [enjoy] being a part of the community and the culture. I got the chance to be a part of something rather than doing the work behind the scenes.”

Why do you want to win and how do you plan on doing so?

“I want to win because I think it would just be a really cool experience. I’m not going crazy with my campaign, but I’m gonna obviously try. Me and my boyfriend are running together, and we’re both really involved in the school.”

Leia is the ASB president and part of the SHHS dance team. Leia had an end goal in mind with the determination to get there.

Elias Reyes

Why did you run for court?

“I don’t even know why I ran, but now it’s a fun high school memory that you would have and this is my last year of high school.” 

Why did you want to win?

“[It’s] not necessarily that I want to win. I would enjoy winning, but that’s not my goal.” 

How do you think everyone’s campaigns are?

“It’s anyone’s game at this point, there are nine other people running for it, four other guys. So it’s the best man win.”

How are you and the person you ran with promoting your campaign?

“We are making a campaign together so we are running together so all our graphics are us two.”

Elias is on the baseball team and in ASB he is glad he got to create this high school memory. He believed the other princes all had an equal shot at winning. Elias and his girlfriend Leia went through this process together and planned on making their goal happen.

Veronica Conchas 

Why did you decide to run for homecoming court?

“I wanted to take the chance and prove to myself that I feel I can have people behind me to support, and then I also wanted to represent people who are scared to run.” 

Why did you want to win?

“I want to win to be able to have the crown on my head, to be able to be called queen. And how I plan to win is to talk to people, because I feel like not a lot of people actually communicate with the people they’re trying to have their votes for. Maybe communicating with them so that even though they vote for me, it’s a new friendship.” 

Veronica is a part of ASB and the girl’s flag football team. She looked at this opportunity and took the chance to bond with her peers and form new friends along her journey.

Jayden Arnold

Why did you want to run for court?

“I decided to run because I thought it was a fun thing to do, and most of my friends said that they were gonna run. I knew if I would have made the court it would have been really fun.” 

Why did you want to win?

“I want to win because I don’t have the mindset of wanting to lose.” 

How did you plan on winning?

“How I’d win is just getting people to vote for me like promoting myself on social media and posting myself on Instagram.” 

Jayden is one of the Captains of the varsity football team and in ASB. He had one goal in mind and the drive to accomplish it.

Julianna Perez 

Why did you run for homecoming court?

“My first thought of it was I don’t really want to. It’s lowkey scary to run but then some of my friends were like you should run for it so I just took a big step and it was out of my comfort zone.”

Who was supporting you through your journey?

“I had my wrestling team and football team supporting me throughout this.”  

 Julianna is a part of the girl’s flag football team and wrestling team. She went in head first and took this journey on with a support system behind her.

Anthony Andino

Why did you decide to run? 

“I always wanted it ever since freshman year. I think it was a really cool thing and being in ASB I knew all the perks of being on it. So when the opportunity came I decided to go for it.” 

Who did you have as a support system?

“I had a lot of my ASB people and also my band peers that helped me out as well.” 

Anthony is a part of the marching band and in ASB. He had the goal of being on court throughout his four years of high school, and it finally happened.

Jayleen Fuentes

Why did you run for court?

“I want to show girls that you don’t need a king to be a queen, you can do it all by yourself. I think it shows girl power.” 

How have you been campaigning yourself?

“I’ve just been doing a bunch of flyers and I have shirts and some pins I’m giving out.” 

 Jayleen is a part of the varsity cheer team and promoted herself to be a role model to all girls sending out an impactful message.

Johann Maldonado

Why did you run for homecoming court?

“ I decided I was gonna run last year because of my best friend. She just wanted me to do it and I kind of knew I had a solid shot of, making it onto the court.” 

Why do you think huskies should vote for you?

“I think that people should vote for me because I’m kind of keeping it lowkey.” 

 Johann is in ASB and he had his best friend to motivate him to go through with the Homecoming court process. He kept his campaign to a minimum and even though he appeared nonchalant throughout the process he thought students should still vote for him.

King and Queen

Donovan Renden was crowned king during the Homecoming rally on September 27 and Rochelle Ortega was crowned queen at the homecoming football game during halftime later that evening.

*All photos taken by ASB