Seniors court homecoming crown

By ELISE FRANCO

Six senior girls will be under the Friday night lights for crowning of the next homecoming queen

BOARDMAN — The act of keeping a tradition alive is not without excitement or even suspense.

Six Boardman High School senior girls and their escorts will walk onto the football field at halftime Friday in front of classmates, teachers, friends and family.

They’ll then find out who the 2008 homecoming queen will be.

Emily Raybuck, 18, said she was surprised when she found out she had been chosen for the homecoming court.

“I was really excited,” she said. “It’s an honor to be chosen.”

The court is chosen by the senior class, English teacher Pam Limbert said. Each person in the senior class gets to vote for two girls to be on the homecoming court, and then top votes are tallied.

Each girl is then given a letter letting them know they’ve made court.

Boardman, unlike other schools, crowns only a homecoming queen. Limbert said each of the girls are escorted by a male classmate of her choice.

Rachel Gronvall, 17, said making homecoming court was unexpected for her as well.

“Me and Danielle [Devin] opened our letters together behind the vending machines, then we called our moms to tell them,” she said. “It’s a really nice honor because your names are randomly selected by classmates.”

Gronvall, who wants to attend college to become a nurse, said she doesn’t know how it will feel to win, but she wants to find out.

“I’ll just be really excited,” she said. “It’s just something I’ve always wanted ever since I started watching beauty pageants on TV.”

Also nominated to the court are seniors Lauren Agnew, Laura Anderson and Haley Crossen.

The theme of this year’s homecoming dance is “Out of This World.” It will be held in the high school cafeteria from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. Saturday.