Announced during halftime of the Colonia football game against New Brunswick on Friday, October 12, senior Brittany Langevin and senior Konrad Zawadski became this year’s Homecoming King and Queen.
Mr. Daniel Hutchinson, student council advisor, has an important part of Homecoming. Regarding the candidates Hutchinson stated, “They were great from the finalist to the semi-finalist they were all great.” Mr. Hutchinson also stated that the quality of all the finalist and semi-finalist from top to bottom impressed the teachers especially those on the selection panel.
Homecoming is a tradition that dates back to 1909. According to Fast Web, both Baylor University and University of Illinois argue over who was the originator of Homecoming. For the past fifty-one years, Colonia High schedules a Homecoming game to bring alumni back. This allows the student body and faculty to vote for homecoming winners. In order for seniors to become nominees, they must write an essay and have a good GPA. After the teachers anonymously evaluated the students, there was the final top 5 for boys and top 5 girls. Then, it was in the hands of the students to decide who would win this year.
The Homecoming King finalists were Will Orak, Konrad Zawadzki, Tim Rodriguez, Sahil Sangu, and Tommy Mitch. Homecoming Queen finalists were Jordyn Pagnozzi, Camila Camacho, Brittany Langevin, Maria Brock, and Frankie Brock. The competition was close as it was hard to tell who was going to be this year’s King and Queen. Former winners Victoria Dowd and Luke Pero attended the game to pass down the crowns to new winners, Langevin and Zawadski. Parents and coaches of the nominees escorted the candidates to the field.
When asked how she felt when her name was announced, varsity cheer captain, Brittany Langevin, responded, “It was the craziest feeling. I never thought it would happen.” Langevin had always wanted to be Homecoming Queen and thought it would be amazing to be nominated. She didn’t expect to win but would overhear people were saying they were going to vote for her. Her one dream was to make top 5, but even that’s hard to do. What she has to say to future nominees is “work hard. Go for it. Even if you don’t think that you could win, you might.”
Marching Band member, Konrad Zawadzki, has always thought that being Homecoming King was really cool. He ran because he thought why not? When asked how he felt when they announced his name, Zawadzki responded with “shocked and surprised. I knew I was running against a lot of people that were gaining points.” When Zawadzki was a freshman, the senior who won predicted this win. When asked what he had to say to future nominees, he responded with, “good luck. You can do it. If I can do it, so can you.”
The Patriots went on to beat New Brunswick 42-21. Also in attendance for the victory and Homecoming ceremony was members of the class of 1973.
