After a week filled with pageants, rallies and dress up days students, parents, teachers and alumni gather to the north field to celebrate the 28th annual homecoming game, Oct. 26. As homecoming was also the last football game, the Senior Night for the senior players took place before the game began.

The night began with pre-game princess nominee introductions and presentation of the senior football players. Brief biographies were read for each player before they presented flowers to their moms. The game then began around 7:30 p.m. against the Immanuel Eagles.

Despite losing the game, the homecoming festivities provided entertainment to the many spectators who attended the event. Throughout the first half of the game, the princess, queen and king candidates roamed the field to pose for pictures and greet their peers. At the same time, the four floats received the finishing touches before being judged at the end of half time.

As a princess nominee, Madelline Luginbill, ’16, enjoyed the overall feel of the night, appreciating the nomination.

“I thought homecoming was amazing,” Luginbill said. “I was so excited just to be nominated for my class. The whole week was so fun, and I loved seeing all the girls dressed up.”

Luginbill was also named the freshman princess during the half time crowning event. Ivette Ibarra was crowned as the sophomore princess, the junior princess was announced as Amanda Menes, Maddie Yee was named as senior princess and Jenna Orcutt was crowned homecoming queen while Matt Jenkins was crowned as king.

“I was actually really surprised,” Luginbill said. “I had so much fun and made so many memories. It was an honor to win; I was just glad that I got to have that experience. It was so cool to see how many people came to watch and support our team and all the homecoming events.”

As homecoming queen, Orcutt feels blessed to have the opportunity and to be picked out by her peers.

“It’s pretty exciting, the whole experience is great so just being picked as queen is the cherry on top of the whole thing,” Orcutt said. “It’s a blessing and an honor. I am just really happy and blessed that I got picked. I was just happy to be up there and was thinking what ever happens, happens.”

Orcutt’s favorite aspect of the week was getting to know the other nominees and spending time with her peers in an unusual way.

“All the other girls are so deserving, so I was just happy to be up there,” Orcutt said. “It’s so fun, being nominated is the best part. Being able to hang out with all the girls, and getting to know everyone so much better. You get to be apart of the school in a different way it’s just super fun. The pageants are great and the whole night was fantastic.”

This year, the junior float received first place followed by the seniors, freshmen and sophomores.

For sophomore Nick Fontes, who portrayed the tin man on his float: The Wizard of Oz, loosing this year was disappointing, but he still had fun.

“It was pretty awesome,” Fontes said. “The floats were good; I liked the costumes everyone was wearing, and it was fun. I was disappointed that we got last but it wasn’t out of the blue because our float was not up to par. This year was more stressful cause we wanted to win and, but it was still fun pounding nails.”

For the football team, the amount of fans that attend the game helps add to the encouragement, especially for junior David Taylor.

“It was a very exciting game that we played,” Taylor said. “Immanuel was a tough team but I’m glad that we played them. Homecoming was pretty fun. For the team, it felt pretty good. There were a lot more people than we had expected, and they all came out to homecoming and to see us so it gave us some encouragement.”

The night aslo welcomed back many alumni who sang in the alumni choir to start the homecoming festivities with the “National Anthem.” Alumna Austen Houts, ’12, returned to sing, but felt that returning to campus brought back lots of memories.

“Since I no longer really know the people on the football team, I was less invested in the game,” Houts said. “Being back at FC to sing and talk with people from my graduating class was sort of surreal. It was weird because we are all in different places, pursing different things now, but at the same time it felt like we were back in high school and nothing had changed.”

The night also welcomed outside views, including former teacher Jane Gillespie who loved seeing her former students.

“I was so excited to see everyone,” Gillespie said. “FC is like a second family to me, and I felt so blessed to be welcomed back with open arms.”

For more features, read the Oct. 26 article, Events finalize 28th annual homecoming week.