Homecoming Halftimes / Games

Courtesy of 2012 Seaxe / Kelly Low Queen

There have been several ways we have found to crown a Queen and King.  Since 1965 (First Homecoming) The Queen was announced in a halftime ceremony and by 1988 (First Kings) we began crowning Kings at the dance.

We've brought them out in corvettes, chariots, walked them out, paraded them, carried them and the likes.

No matter how we have done it the winners have felt that stars, like they are the only one in the room at that moment and to them and the school, for that one moment, they are a Queen of a King.

All this while there is a football game going on in between crownings or even a dance when it comes to  the King.

Courtesy of 2012 Seaxe / Nolan Sanchez King

For the 50th we spared no expense, we had corvettes representing each year, we had confetti cannons that went off when the queen was announced, we brought the band out of 1/2 time retirement to play a soft song in the back ground while the queens were announced and we had 2 emcee's describing the girls and boys and they came driving by.  For 2012, we had a show.  In the past 24 years that I've been involved in the crowning, i'm always amazed we make it in time because our 1/2 times often go long.  The shortest I believe was about 4 minutes and the longest was this year and we used all 20 minutes given with only about 50 seconds left on the clock.

Happy 50th Anniversary Loara High School, Happy Anniversary.

Queens of 1965 - 1987 video

Queens and Kings of 1988 - 2012 video

As to the football games, often times the game we chose is the big rival. Either Katella High School or Anaheim High School which will rile up the crowd.  As leagues shift  and we are now in the Golden West League we no longer can battle these teams in our Homecoming game.  We have only been in 3 Leagues, Empire, Sunset and now Golden West.

Homecoming Game / Halftime / Post Game slide show courtesy of Bill Norris

What are some of your memories of Homecoming Game and Halftime?

Homecoming Assemblies

1962 - 1970

Traditional Assemblies were held and the alumni returned to support their team, their school and their community.  It was a true Homecoming where the alumni were allowed to come to the dance for free and helped performed in the Assemblies.

1970 - 1985

Boom Boom (John Dahlem) 1983 HC

Bubbles (Rick Martens) 1985 HC

The Legend of Boom Boom (John Dahlem) was well known at Loara High School during the 1970 - 1985 school years.  Boom Boom performed at all Homecoming Assemblies (until Homecoming 1984) and helped the faculty start the annual tradition of entertaining the Loara community.  Although "political correctness" would not support Boom Boom today, many Saxons fondly remember her dances and cheers for the football team.  For awhile Boom Boom's little sister Bubbles the Ballerina (Rick Martens, class of 75) came to perform but was short lived (1984 - 1987) as the Loara community changed.  Bubbles was initiated in 1985 and it was also the year they began the teachers Lip Sync, which is the tradition that is carried on today.

Seaxe 1985 Farewell to Boom Boom

1985 to the present

The all teacher lip sync came out of need.  Boom Boom retired her wig to become a Principal at Ball Junior High School, Loara's feeder school.  There was a concern to what came next after Boom Boom but with numbers like LMFAO and Psy and the teachers willingness to participate, we really solidified the next era of Homecoming Assemblies.  Our audience this year was filled with alumni and they were treated to a spectacle of cheers and spirit.  Along with the all teacher lip sync we have a 35 minute student assembly with performances from Cheer, Color Guard and Student Groups ... Loara's assemblies are legendary.

Assembly Slide Show Video Shown to the Students (Click Here)

Homecoming Queens & Kings 1988 - 2012

The Age of the Homecoming King

1988 - 1989 Seaxe

The second 25 years marked a transition with bringing in Homecoming Kings to the mix.  After a game against the Cypress Centurions that ended in a tie, a new set of traditions set in motion.  The field not only had Queen candidates present, but King candidates were there too.  Hearing names like Craig Beltran, Adam Dove, Imron Hussain, Mark Plettink, Billy Kang, Vince Carpino, Dan Bokelman or Robert Garcia announced must have had alumni what had happened, but they didn't hear wrong.  Jerry Halpin, Activities Director at the time, and his cabinet thought it was time to join many in the county that were adding Prince and King candidates on the ballot.

Below, click on to see a video of the Queens / Kings of 88 - 12.  Again, sorry I cannot show the YouTube Video direct, but the link will get you there (click here). Enjoy!

Queens & Kings: The Second 25

Loara High School Homecoming 1988 - 2012

(click here)

1988 - Michelle Wilkoff (the last stand alone queen)

1989 - Nicole Conner & Billy Kang (first King)

1990 - Katy Valdez & Coy Collins

1991 - Jill Stefani & Mark Axtman

1992 - Kerry Swallows & Bryant Jackson

1993 - Diana Rankin & Brent Sporn

1994 - Elana Fox & Vince Pla

1995 - Jaimee Strand & David Ferguson

1996 - Kelli Heise & Richard Meza

1997 - Sunny Chung & Alex Martini

1998 - Erika Guzman & Zack Winnick

1999 - Elisa Vartanian & Sean Moses

2000 - Cheyanne Holton & Aviran Barlev

2001 - Cindy Kobayashi & Greg Pak

2002 - Erin Craton & Chad Peach

2003 - Michelle Malanga & Jack Lam

2004 - Kristy Vincent & Zach Langhauser

2005 - Monse Gallardo & Carlos Vazquez

2006 - Clare Morgenstern & Denni Ki

2007 - Nichole Simpson & Joshua Apia

2008 - Christina Mantas & Patrick Boyle

2009 - Brionna Davis & Mike Jones

2010 - Alyssa Flores & Nolan Sanchez

2011 - Amanda Jones & Esteban De la Cruz

2012 - Kelly Low & Nicholas Garcia

Saxon Shield October 14, 1988

Academic Rally

Part of the 400 students that were honored

 In the 2011 -2012 school year we realized that we were missing out on recognizing an entire group of students for their talents and gifts in education.  These kids have high academic achievement and great attendance records and nothing was done to recognize them.  Being the Activities Director for the school for 23 years I knew better but I was so overwhelmed by everything else that it was hard to do yet another thing. I remember when I was a student that we received certificates when we hit high academic honors, and that alone was pretty cool to receive.  But why not recognize them in the same manner as the athletes?  The idea isn't a new one, many schools have begun to change cultures and create a positive spin on getting great grades.  A company called Jostens started a Renaissance Program that showed schools how to put on great rallies and how to recognize students differently.  This program is nationwide, and should be applauded for it's efforts.  Many schools have Renaissance Classes and Officers that work just in the academic part of the schools inner workings.

Color Guard before Assembly

At Loara we have taken that idea and made it our own.  For many years Loara has had an Educations Officer in Student Government and that role has morphed into a Renaissance type role.  We do student of the month, read birthdays on announcements and some other minor things but we never hit them all at once in a public setting. On September 28, 2012 we held an assembly to change the culture, and stepped up what we have been talking about ... recognizing high achievers in all they do.  The assembly is very similar to a spirit assembly.

Sammy pumping up the crowd

The kids with 3.5 and higher walk through the sports tunnel as the band and drum-line play them in, the cheerleaders cheer, the color-guard twirls and the band plays the Alma Mater.  The only difference is, we have keynote speakers, the Principal speaks about education and an Honors Teacher talks about how proud they are of all the hard work and accomplishments put in by these students.  The video we show doesn't show how we did at a football game but shows images of the students working toward education and the clubs they are involved in.  Watch the video "What makes you beautiful" 

(spoiler alert) there is one grammar error in the video, I left it there on purpose to see if people were truly watching, I recall hearing that  Disney does things like this so in Disney n  style they always put in some kind of thing just for the people that made the film.