Choosing a homecoming queen

[TheConfessor]

I went to an all-boys high school. We didn't have a homecoming queen. At least not that I knew about. But we did have an all-girl sister school, and they provided the homecoming queen. I have no idea how she was chosen but the first one ever chosen was my neighbor. But alas, proximity does not equal dates.

Consider yourself lucky. At least you survived to tell the tale.

[andrewjackson]

Other than the per capita method already suggested if you stick with fund-raising, I don't have a suggestion.

When I was the student council adviser we ran the homecoming. Nominations were by the classes, a couple of clubs, the band, and the girls basketball team (it was a fall sport at that time in Michigan), and the football team. There was a parallel King election.

Election was by the student body. The queen election almost always came down to the band nominee versus the football team nominee but we had one interesting spin. The queen was the top vote-getter overall but the court was the top junior, sophomore, and freshman getting votes. Some of the classes and clubs would vote more to get their person onto the court rather than trying to pick the queen.

Every single time I ran the election the football team nominee won the King contest. Of course, out of the 110 or so boys in the whole high school about 50 were in the football program every year. That was a bigger voting bloc than the band or the senior class.

[Estonut]

It seems that they traded a popularity contest for a "most popular band member" contest, so I don't feel that improves things at all, especially since it automatically shuts out 70% of the candidate pool.

I had an idea different from the per-capita fundraising solution. This would, admittedly, involve an extra layer of administration and record-keeping, but it seems more fair and still instills good community values in the students. What do you think about a system where you keep track of extra-curricular activities (down, perverts!!1)? For each student who's interested in competing, keep track of the hours they spend (outside of normal classroom instruction) at athletic practices and competitions, band practices and performances, community service, tutoring, etc. I'm not sure whether all activities should be weighed the same, but that can be decided and made known before tracking commences. With this, you'd need something in place to ensure that normal schoolwork and grades don't suffer due to the extra activities, but I think most schools have something in place for that, already. Something along these lines has many advantages:
1) More level playing field, as all students have the same opportunities.
2) Competition is individual, not collective with a nomination from a group.
3) Both the community and students benefit from these activities.

Fire away...

[lilclyde54]

Down here, it is still a popularity contest. In fact the entire homecoming court is chosen by popular vote. The only restriction is that you can only vote for the members of your class when choosing the representatives. The same procedure is used to determine the Homecoming Beaus who escort the maids.

Everyone knows who the maids are but the Homecoming Queen is not revealed until the halftime ceremony. She must be one of the 3 senior maids. It must be working because the student body really gets into it.

[SportsFan68]

It seems that they traded a popularity contest for a "most popular band member" contest, so I don't feel that improves things at all, especially since it automatically shuts out 70% of the candidate pool.

I had an idea different from the per-capita fundraising solution. This would, admittedly, involve an extra layer of administration and record-keeping, but it seems more fair and still instills good community values in the students. What do you think about a system where you keep track of extra-curricular activities (down, perverts!!1)? For each student who's interested in competing, keep track of the hours they spend (outside of normal classroom instruction) at athletic practices and competitions, band practices and performances, community service, tutoring, etc. I'm not sure whether all activities should be weighed the same, but that can be decided and made known before tracking commences. With this, you'd need something in place to ensure that normal schoolwork and grades don't suffer due to the extra activities, but I think most schools have something in place for that, already. Something along these lines has many advantages:
1) More level playing field, as all students have the same opportunities.
2) Competition is individual, not collective with a nomination from a group.
3) Both the community and students benefit from these activities.

Fire away...

Here's my shot -- Homecoming Week should be a fun-filled week. Let's not add a layer of bureaucracy to a bunch of overloaded administrators and weigh down the event itself with projects that many schools give academic credit for.