Homecoming at White Station has always been a girl-dominated event: finding the perfect dress, awaiting the jaw-dropping proposal, and of course, earning a spot on the coveted homecoming court. But now, the rules are starting to change. Starting this fall, along with homecoming queen, the spot for king may be up for grabs.

In the past, students would nominate and vote for which girls should be on their grade’s homecoming court. The top three (or five for seniors) girls in each grade would be selected to be on the court. However, many students were unhappy with this system and believed that boys should be allowed to be on the homecoming court too.

“I feel like guys should have an equal opportunity to run for homecoming court as the girls, being that this is 2017 and gender equality is more of a normal thing,” E-board member Collin Lindsay (11) said.

The change first began with male students wanting a chance to be on the football homecoming court ballot.

“It was a joke at first,” Christian Holmes (12) said. “I was playing around and telling everybody to vote for me to be the homecoming king, just to start something up. But the second semester, people made it more serious and started a petition.”

The petition was created by Stuart Thompson (12) and Darrell Banks (12). Then, fueled by this idea, more students began leaving suggestions in the suggestion box of E-board, the student executive board in charge of homecoming. At a meeting, E-board discussed the proposal and then put it on a ballot to see if people were interested. And people were, with a majority voting in favor of allowing boys on next year’s homecoming court ballot. However, E-board still waits for administrative approval to fully enact this change.  

Some students voted against this change. One major complaint was that the girls and boys would run on the same ballot.  

“[Placing boys and girls on the same ballot] was more of a logistical thing rather than just having separate girls and boys,” Lindsay said. “[It was] because of time. We just have to make sure we have enough time [at pep rallies] to give everybody an equal chance to walk down the aisle.”

Other people are against this change because it goes against tradition.

“Most people see girls on homecoming court as a tradition, and seeing anything other than that would seem ‘weird’ because it’s not what they’re used to,” E-board President Rossana Sandoval (12) said.

This tradition, however, only really pertains to the south, and when considering other Shelby County Schools, White Station is one of the last to have a girl-only court.

Despite the many reasons for or against boys on the homecoming court, at the end of the day, it is simple.

“Boys want to dress up nice too,” MaLiyah Hughes (9) said.

Be sure to stay tuned for the final say on allowing boys on this fall’s homecoming court, as well as years to come.