Band Homecoming 2011 at Gilroy

Mr. Kaldy attempts to make the Princesses laugh...
Photo by Ryan Bui

At the Gilroy competition on October 22, 2011, the MHS Marching Band held their annual Band Homecoming. The tradition started years ago when band students were complaining about missing the Homecoming Dance for the competition, according to Mr. Kaldy.

The Homecoming Court consists of a King and Queen (juniors and seniors), as well as a Prince and Princess (for sophomores and freshmen). Usually, Homecoming candidates are nominated at a Tri-M club meeting. The field is narrowed to three candidates per category. The final twelve then compete in games, which are held at band competitions. The winners are automatically crowned Homecoming Royalty.

Last year, the game was a mud-pie eating contest. This year, the Homecoming Committee, Sydnie Turner and Andrea Melara, added two elimination rounds to the competition. In the first round, four contestants sat on balloons, and the last person to pop his/her balloon was eliminated. In the second round, the Princes and Princesses held water in their mouths, and the first person to spit the water out (while the rest of the band tried to make them laugh) lost. Since this event took longer than the others, the Kings and Queens switched to a water-chugging contest. The final round was a one-on-one chocolate-eating contest. "Mr. Kaldy wanted a hot-dog eating contest, but we said no," explained Homecoming organizer Andrea Melara. "Since it's kind of close to Halloween, we used candy instead."

The new format was not perfect. "They had good ideas on paper, but it took way too long," said Homecoming participant Christine Nguyen. "I would rather have one event and watch the rest of the bands."

Despite the setbacks, the Homecoming Committee had good intentions. "We wanted to keep everyone interested and active," said Melara.

The Homecoming Court: King Edward Laya, Queen Tiffany Do, Princess Marhiel Laya, and Prince Chris Banh. Congratulations!

Finalists
Kings: Calvin Yan, Allan Tang, Jimmy Ngo
Queens: Karen Lin, Christine Nguyen, Kelly Toy
Princesses: Stephanie Black, Mary Gutierrez, Sirena Shreve
Princes: Nathan Luu, Wesley Lin, Howard Liu