The Homecoming Pep Rally was held at Atlantic High School on Friday afternoon. It started off with the show choir performing Colorful, originally recorded by Jukebox the Ghost.

Last years King Lee Houser, and Queen Chaylei Carey, returned this year to take part in crowning the new royalty and ride in the parade. The Homecoming King candidates include; Caden Andersen, Brenden Casey, Jackson McLaren, Miles Mundorf, Easton O’Brien, Tanner O’Brien, Jayden Proehl, Ethan Steffens, and Cruz Weaver. The Queen candidates include; Edria Brummer, Reese DeArment, Mattie Dvorak, Aubrey Guyer, Jada Jensen, Rio Johnson, Chloe Mullenix, Ava Rush, and Abigail Smith. The 2022 Homecoming Royalty winners were Casey and Johnson.

Casey felt “prideful” when he found out he was nominated for the Homecoming Court, and said it was “really cool” to be crowned King. “It’s almost a surreal experience,” he said. His advice for his “Kingdom” is to “try everything out, don’t slack on homework, just try.”

For Johnson, it “felt really good” to be nominated. “Going into high school I never thought that [Queen] would ever be something that I would be,” she said. Her advice for her “kingdom” is to “be involved as much as you can during high school and make friends in different grades because it’s fun to meet new people.”

The head coaches of the fall sports spoke at the event to congratulate their teams for all of their hard work. This included; Volleyball coach Michelle Blake, Cheer coach Katie Hedegaard, Cross Country coach Dan Vargason, and Football coach Joe Brummer. Swim team members Edria Brummer and Lexi Reynolds spoke on behalf of Swim coach Dean Junker, as he could not be in attendance at the event.

The band played the school’s fight song to get everybody in a “peppy” spirit. This was followed by a cheer routine that was made specifically for Homecoming. The cheerleaders chanted various cheers including the famous “battle cry,” where the classes compete against each other to see who can yell the loudest while spelling “victory.” After this, Principal Heather McKay allowed everyone to be dismissed early in the spirit of Homecoming. “Have a great weekend, come back in one piece,” she said.