It is secretly every girl’s dream to get crowned homecoming queen on a cold football field during their senior year. And, although it’s not every guy’s dream to have a crown on his head, it gives him some sort of pride to wear it in front of his fellow classmates.
We have all seen the movies and television shows in which the popular girl who runs the school with an iron fist is predictably crowned. Then there are those movies and shows about the small town girls with big hearts taking the gold for all it’s worth because they are the ones who actually deserve it.

In reality, there are only some crownings that happen this way. There is  usually a chain reaction of voting: someone votes for the most ‘popular’ girls in the class, and then they tell their friends to vote for who they voted for. Here at Bishop Noll, voting for homecoming queen has just become a popularity contest. Ultimately, students end up choosing who they like and don’t like, who is considered the ‘in’ crowd and the ‘loners’.

Is this the ‘fair’ way to vote? Of course not. Every single student, popular or not, should be considered to be nominated for the court. Voters should take into account that the court should include people that represent every aspect of the Bishop Noll community: leaders, athletes, artists, scholars and just average high school students. Whether someone is outgoing, timid, or refined to one specific club, they, too, should be considered equally worthy of the homecoming crown as someone who is just popular or pretty.

Bishop Noll’s suffrage is also a little outdated and prejudiced, as compared to other school’s homecoming voting rights. Schools like Munster, Highland, Whiting and Clark let the entire student body participate in the voting, not just seniors. Homecoming is, after all, an event for both underclassmen and upperclassmen. It is not reserved for juniors and seniors, like prom. All students have the right to cast their vote for whomever they feel represents school spirit best.

Furthermore, at these other schools, members of the court campaign for crowns. These schools have parades and pep rallies that are dedicated to the court giving speeches or propaganda to ask for their fellow classmates’ votes. Club members, athletes, outstanding students, or proponents of community service start making signs and floats to exhibit how much time and dedication they’ve put into their school during their four years.

Bishop Noll administration and student  council sponsors agree that voting rights is definitely a topic they would like to see the student council class officers bring up in a general assembly.  This is a students’ rights issue, and if change is desired, the proper channels need to be nzvigated. Sponsors Miss Dever and Mr. Miller as well as the principal, assistant principal, and dean would be interested to  know how the students would like to proceed. After all, this is the students’ king and queen, not the faculty and administration’s.

But the tradition at Noll stands as such: Only juniors and seniors nominate the top ten for the homecoming court, then the seniors vote on the top five. The voting this year will be the same; but, seniors, take the thoughts listed above into consideration so that this year Bishop Noll can have the best and most diverse homecoming court possible.