Homecoming Court
On Oct. 27, amidst Samo students engulfed in the homecoming hype and hatred towards the Culver City varsity football team, Zoe D’Andrea (’18) and Jeffrey Cole (’18) were crowned the 2018 Homecoming Queen and King of Samo. A time honored tradition, every Homecoming season, two students are named Homecoming king and queen of Samo. The process begins with Samo seniors nominating six students, three boys and three girls, from a roster provided. From there, ASB crunched all the numbers and chose the top four from each. These nominated students make up the Homecoming court. In year’s past, Samo has had trouble getting seniors to run and nominate for homecoming court. However, the class of 2018 jumped at the chance to nominate.Once nominated, the eight are presented at the pep rally in front of all Samo students. The presentations are given to provide a glimpse into who the candidate is, for those not acquainted with them-usually including their hobbies, likes and dislikes, goals for the future and why they’re running. Candidates are then voted on by all grades, and winners are crowned at the game later that day.Earlier at the Homecoming Pep Rally, D’Andrea and Cole ‘rolled’ in on cars with the other eight members of the Homecoming Court, and partners by their sides. The other candidates were Xaria Romero (’18) , Sammy Nario (’18), Sophie Major (’18), Emmanuel Teskete (’18), Austen Ariniello (’18) and Sierra Vidal (’18). During the presentations, a link to google forms was projected to the entire Samo census to cast votes. When all 3,000+ votes were tallied up, D’Andrea and Cole had won.The winners were revealed at the game. The contestants wore a court sash and descended the track with their entourage of parents and friends. Each court-member was then given a specific colored balloon different from the other seven. The balloons were issued as identifiers as to who won. The reveal was cast by ASB-member and Song captain, Gracie Fletcher (’18) opening up a reveal box in front of the contestants. The box enclosed a yellow and a white balloon, whose colors matched those that D’Andrea and Cole were holding.After the balloons were revealed, both seniors were clearly taken aback and surprised by the results. Smiles were brought out across the board. “You know, it feels really really beautiful. This is one of the best moments. Just looking out into the crowd today, I feel really inspired. Being by all my friends and family, I’m just so excited to keep pushing on and keep spreading my word,” D’Andrea said.Cole, a man of fewer words, had a bit more political of a point of view on the coronation than D’Andrea.“I feel that this is somewhat ironic. I would like to promote oligarchy,” Cole said.D’Andrea and Cole finished the night off with an impromptu crowning-photo shoot and smiles.