Homecoming 2019 set Friday

By Kathy Thomson

Homecoming week is finally here, with celebrations and spirit-building activities underway as students, alumni, football players, and fans get ready for the weekend’s festivities.

Nominees have been selected for homecoming king and queen, as well as class princes and princesses and other organization honorees chosen to be in the homecoming court.

AHS Royalty

Senior king and queen nominees from the seniors were voted on by each of the four high school classes.

The juniors, sophomores, and freshmen have also named princes and princesses for each of their classes.

Several organizations have elected honorees to be in the homecoming court. 

The freshmen’s candidates for homecoming king and queen are Uriel Camacho and Gracie LeMay, while sophomores chose Max Balliew and Julia Bowman as their nominees for royalty. 

The junior class selected Conner Clark and Taylor Scott to vie for the crowns.

Tyler Beard and Jaleigh Morales were nominated by the seniors. 

Many of the honorees will ride in the Friday afternoon parade and then all of them will be presented during halftime of the Albany homecoming football game that night.

All king and queen nominees are seniors, and the winners were selected by the entire student body.

The other honorees from AHS include the prince and princess for each class. 

Freshmen named classmates Samuel Rosas and Chloe Anderson to represent them on the field.

The sophomores elected Jaheim Newton and Caitlan Lee.

Liam Stunkard and Landree Connally are the junior class prince and princess. 

Also selected as honorees were Football Sweetheart Addison Asher and Escort Gregori Mikeska, Band Sweetheart Clara Holson and Beau Malachi Gueldner, and FFA Sweetheart Mady Connally and FFA Beau Kasey Cauble.

Friday Activities

The Friday activities will begin early with “freaky Friday role reversal” inspired clothing donned by some participants for the final day of dress-up week. 

The traditional homecoming pep rally starts at 8:45 a.m. in the AHS gym.

The early time slot allows Nancy Smith Elementary students to attend the spirit building event and makes it easier for everyone to enjoy the pep rally and still get to the parade on time.

All parade entries should be registered with the high school office. Entries are to gather by 4:15 p.m. to join the lineup at the Nail Stadium parking lot. The caravan pulls out at 5:00 p.m.

Classes at the secondary school have constructed their homecoming parade floats, decorating them to correspond with the parade theme “Iconic Television Shows.”

The seventh and eighth grade classes worked together Sunday night to decorate their Looney Tunes float. A few finishing touches were done by smaller groups of the middle school students earlier this week.

Freshmen put together a float representing That ’70s Show. 

Sophomores worked to transform their entry into The Office.

Juniors will travel through the parade as Friends, while the seniors will remember one of the cartoons from their childhood, Sponge Bob.

The parade will include homecoming royalty riding in cars, floats representing the classes, and the AHS band.

After the parade, members of First Baptist Church will host their traditional free-will donation fundraising chili supper at the church’s fellowship hall.

The homecoming game starts at 7:30 p.m.

Getting Ready

Volunteers tied bright red and silver streamers around town on Sunday evening, but rain clouds caused organizers to postpone the traditional street painting for a few days.

As of press time, High School Hill and Main Street were expected to be closed for several hours on Wednesday evening, starting at 6:00 p.m., so the athletes’ parents could paint the streets.

Classes began working on their homecoming floats last weekend, and added additional touches this week.

Special themes encouraged students to show their school spirit by wearing pink on Monday, tie dye on Tuesday, and Wild West costumes on Wednesday. The dress-up days continued with “tropical Thursday” today.

Fifth Quarter

After the homecoming game on Sept. 27 against Peaster, Jesus of Nazareth Catholic Church, Maranatha Fellowship, and the Church of Christ are hosting Fifth Quarter at the Feed Store.  

The menu is hamburgers, chips, drinks, and desserts.

“We want to invite all of our high school and junior high kids to join us from 10:00 p.m. to midnight,” said Church of Christ pastor Sonny McCauley.