This year, ASBL changed the process of nominating homecoming princesses by adding categories.
Inspired by the main character from “The Princess Bride”, ASBL decided to focus on Buttercup’s positive attributes and used five of them for the Homecoming Court categories: bravery, loyalty, spirit, strength and wits.
“The Princess Bride” follows the life of a country girl named Buttercup who falls in love with a stable boy, Westley. However, Westley fakes his own death by making it look like he died while on a sea voyage which leaves Buttercup devastated. At the same time, Prince Humperdinck forces Buttercup into an engagement, and a trio of bandits kidnap her. Eventually Westley saves her, but she swears that she would rather die than return to marry Prince Humperdinck. Like just about every romantic tale, the story ends with Westley and Buttercup gaining their happily ever after.
When Buttercup takes initiative and stands up against Prince Humperdinck in order to save Westley even though she could have been jailed or executed by the prince, she inspired ASBL to choose the Princess of Bravery as one of the princess categories. Senior Jasmine Lee displays the traits of bravery since she shows leadership by being band’s clarinet assistant section leader as well as being drill sergeant.
Chosen for her drive driven for true love and is willing to follow Westley to the ends of the earth, ASBL was inspired and created the Princess of Loyalty category. After finding out Westley was not dead at sea, Buttercup immediately chose to continue standing by his side and continue loving him despite having the chance to live a lavish life. Recognized for her kindness and friendliness by her fellow students, Senior Taylor Phan embodies loyalty and chosen to personify the Princess of Loyalty.
The Princess of Spirit is a person who displays courage, energy or determination. This ties directly back to the how Buttercup had to go through any trials that put her and Westley’s true love to the test. Despite the many setbacks and trials she endures, Buttercup continues to feel optimistic that true love will prevail, and the Princess of Spirit should be always cheering others on to participate in school events. Nominated by the student body for her participation in every single spirit event, Senior Celyna Su was picked to be the Princess of Spirit.
Inspired by how she helped Westley fight off the Rodents of Unusual Size in the Fire Swamp, ASBL chose to have a princess represent Buttercup’s trait of strength. Buttercup’s strength also inspired ASBL when she jumped off a boat to face off against the screeching eels. Displayed by her athletic abilities in cheer, Senior Alyssa Ramirez exemplifies the characteristics of the Princess of Strength.
Buttercup’s manipulation of Prince Humperdinck into sparing Westley’s life led ASBL to the development of the Princess of Wits. Buttercup tricks Prince Humperdinck into promising that he would allow Westley to go free as long as she promised to come back with him. Named for her intelligence by her peers, Senior Briana Parayno represents the Princess of Wits.
ASBL decided to change their nomination process in order to prevent a popularity contest.
“For the movie, we picked out the main character the princess Buttercup and used her best traits; we then took those traits and made them into categories,” ASBL Activities Commissioner Senior Christina Chen said. “This year we tried to create categories for the nominations because often times only the ‘popular’ kids in certain groups get nominated. So we wanted to spread things out a little more evenly.”
The nomination for Homecoming Queen will remain the same as last year. This year’s Homecoming Queen will be voted for from one of the five chosen princesses by the rest of the student body. Besides the introduction of princesses being nominated based on the new categories, there are no further changes to Homecoming.