Nathaniel Martinez is the starting running back from the varsity boys football team and works as a copy editor for the Crimson & Gold Yearbook. He is running for 2022 Homecoming King.
From ‘Dropping Out’ to ‘Staying In’
Nathaniel Martinez nearly dropped out of the Homecoming King race. Now he’s in it to win it.
Making Homecoming Court wasn’t supposed to happen this way for Nathaniel Martinez.
What was supposed to happen was that Nathaniel and his girlfriend, fellow senior Allison Favela, were to win spots on the Court together. From the moment they accepted their nominations, the idea was that they would run together and if one of them didn’t make it, the other would drop out.
Nathaniel was nominated by football head coach Ray Rodriguez, and he accepted the nomination because he felt it would be important to Allison, and a wonderful memory they would both treasure forever.
So, once he heard his name over the announcements during second period on September 22, but didn’t hear hers, his active mind immediately started trying to figure all this out. He wanted to drop out. Getting nominated wasn’t something he was very interested in; he stated it wasn’t fair for him to be taking up space and it would be better if he dropped out.
Allison talked him out of it.
“I did this for laughs and giggles. I didn’t really expect to be fully in, but I’m glad people have supported me, and I’m thankful about it,” he said.
His relationship with Allison matters deeply to him. They have been dating for nearly eight months.
He still remembers their very first date “It was funny because our first date actually lasted 12 hours . . . and it felt like only an hour went by. It was everything I could ever imagine. It was nice and she is great.”
In the end, that’s all Nathaniel cares about. He doesn’t really care about the crown, believing he only got nominated because “I guess I tend to attract people’s attention with my personality and choices.”
But now he is in the competition, and intends to have Allison escort him out at halftime of the Homecoming Game, a game he’ll be featuring in as running back for the Yellowjackets.
When all the hoopla and the dust settles, he’ll settle back into his normal day-to-day life of working towards his dream of becoming a filmmaker. Nathaniel’s real passion is watching movies and TV shows due to the “personal connections” he has with movies.
Perhaps this Homecoming Night will play out like one.