Students raise their hands and cheer for the winners of the new Knights and Jesters in the homecoming royalty during half time of the Sep. 27, 2024 Durango High School homecoming football game. The Knights and Jesters, both new additions to the traditional court, brought cheers, funny videos and invited more clubs to join in on the homecoming week fun. 

Over the years, DHS primarily gave homecoming King and Queen crowns for the royalty, and occasionally Prince and Princess crowns, but this year the Student Council introduced Knights and Jesters. According to Student Council, Knights are students with great spirit and Jesters are the funniest students or ‘class clowns’. 

Jordan Davis, student body co-president and royalty winner, expressed in an interview that the Student Council’s goal with this year’s royalty additions was to allow more students to get involved, win and celebrate the culture of DHS. Students around the school are represented and given the opportunity to show themselves and their clubs to the school. 

According to Davis, almost 40 nominees stood on the football field and waited to hear who had won, each after making funny video campaigns, which the student body viewed before voting. The addition of Jesters and Knights increased student participation and involvement. Davis even explains that students ran with the intention of winning those roles. 

 Jesters and Knights brought opportunities for students to bring more fun and  expression into homecoming and the school. Students from football and soccer to theater and orchestra all got to participate and run for the homecoming court. 

Eden Smith, a Homecoming royalty nominee for DHS Orchestra, said in a recent interview, “It’s still a really fun thing and I’m really glad I got to participate.”

Smith and many other nominees took this opportunity in homecoming royalty to get involved in the school and have fun during the homecoming season. The events and activities are all put on by Student Council and DHS, who invest a considerable amount of work into homecoming for the students. Smith, along with others, displays how successful Student Councils plans were. 

During halftime at the homecoming game students, Bella Lucero and Gyllan Reynolds shared that this was one of the best homecoming years, thanks to all the participation and how many people were involved, partly because of all the fun that came with the Knights and Jesters royalty.

Knights, Jesters and the overall homecoming court brought a spotlight onto how many opportunities there are for finding joy in clubs. 

Lucero, Reynolds, Smith and Davis all seem to have come to the same conclusion; that the acknowledgment, inclusivity, and participation that the Knights and Jesters brought to the school was just really cool to be a part of. Though homecoming royalty is not the biggest activity during the homecoming season, it still had a large impact on Durango High School. 

Knights and Jesters, this fun and spirited addition certainly brought more acknowledgement, expression, culture, and fun to this year’s Homecoming. And who knows, they may have landed a permanent spot in the court.