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Jasmine Jimenez

To announce the Homecoming King and Queen for 2022, members of ASB raised letters spelling out their names from the student section in Memorial Stadium.

Colton,CA—Colton High placed all their bets this year on its students getting hyped by the “Casino Night”-themed Homecoming events on September 29th. 

And those bets paid off.

The day’s biggest moment came that night, as Samay Ramachhita and Stephanie Alvarez were crowned King and Queen. The moment spoke to their collaborative campaign, as ASB students strategically positioned themselves in the student section at Memorial Stadium and raised letters spelling out the names of the new royals.

“As soon as I saw the first three letters of Steph’s name, I literally started crying,” said Ramachhita, overjoyed by his friend’s victory. “And then the other ‘S’ started to pop up and I was in shock. I genuinely didn’t think I had a chance.”

For Alvarez, this moment meant “Everything. I mean, this is a real confidence booster. It’s showing me to love myself more, believe in myself more. It’s a really good feeling.”

The day’s events put a spotlight on the 11 members of Homecoming Court, starting with the Homecoming Pep Rally. Held during third period in the Hubbs Gym, ASB announced the underclassmen prince and princesses in addition to the senior court.

One of the biggest questions going into the rally was how the introductions of the court would be accomplished considering that this year there were 6 nominees for King, making this court quite odd with 11 total members.

The decision was to have Queen nominee Katelynn De La Torre escorted by both Nathaniel Martinez and Axel Vasquez down the red carpet and through the trellis at center court. Other nominees were paired up: Denise Diaz and Gabriel Aparicio; Destiny Verduzco and Vincent De Anda; Samay Ramachhita and Stephanie Alvarez; Marissa Lopez and Duke Medina.

The Court nominees were excited to embrace all the cheers from the packed bleachers. Senior Homecoming nominee and Link Crew leader Vincent De Anda said, “There was a lot of school spirit and the rally showed me that there was a lot of people and it was nice seeing all my supporters cheering.

In addition to the Court introductions, the rally also featured music, dance, and games. Colton’s band performed “Blinding Lights” by the Weeknd. Drum Major Erin Dallatorre shared, “For my first rally as drum major it went really well. Everyone was pretty chill about it and we look forward to performing things like that.”

As if the rally wasn’t hyped up enough, students grew even louder when the student band Los Del R performed “Mi Gustas Mucho” in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month. The band featured Alexis Perez on vocals, Jimmy Magana and Pablo Ramirez on guitars, and Karen Millan on bass.

“It was surreal,” Millan said about their performance. “It felt like it wasn’t happening.”

Jimmy Magana was fired up. “It was a real adrenaline rush,” he said.

After school, Colton PD shutdown Rancho Avenue for the annual Colton Homecoming Parade. Floats representing several athletic teams, the cheer squad, the Art Thompson Teen Center, and Colton Pride joined the traditional fleet of Corvettes escorting the year’s Homecoming Court and the winners of this year’s Miss Yellowjacket competition.

Despite the event taking place on Thursday as opposed to the usual Friday, Rancho Avenue was lined with people from the Hubbs Gym all the way to the Arco station at the intersection of Rancho Avenue and Olive Street.

Former CHS teacher Chad Bishop served as this year’s Grand Marshal.