LOHS 2023 Homecoming was a success. Lake Oswego’s 2025 junior class officers put together a weekend in paradise for all the students at LOHS, while also supporting wildfire relief with their raffle ticket fundraiser built into the process behind buying homecoming tickets. This  plan helped them raise over $400 to donate to the Maui Strong Fund, which would ultimately provide financial resources to support the immediate and long-term recovery needs for the people and places affected by the devastating Maui wildfires. “The idea behind the theme came from a ton of brainstorming and trying to stray away from what previous classes have done, eventually landing on a tropical theme,” said Junior Class President Lucas Meskel. Added onto the clever theme was the Maui Strong Fund fundraiser that “just came hand in hand, as we had been reading a bunch about the tragic wildfires we figured it was a great cause to attempt to raise money for.” 

“I believe it was a success. People had fun and I think having shaved ice was a fun twist instead of the usual routine of just providing water,” junior class officer Lily Olson added. Meskel was also very confident about his decision to throw Homecoming in the cafeteria this year instead of the library. “I think the cafeteria was definitely an upgrade. The library is way too small for 800-900 kids. And it’s inevitable that everyone is going to be hot and sweaty. So we just had way more space to work with [and] decorate.” Adding onto their success in moving homecoming to the cafeteria, Meskel continued, “I think we also did a good job keeping all the chaos in one area while also having areas for people to calm down.”

This year’s voted Homecoming court consisted of two freshmen, sophomores, juniors and three seniors. The class of 2027 freshmen royals were Liam Carmichael and Leah Hoover, class of 2026 sophomore royals were Delaney Carroll and Nicholas Nazemi, class of 2025 junior royals were Amin Al Shaati and Josiah Lugo and finally, the class of 2024 senior royals were MieSo Kim, Cyrus Boughey and the crowned homecoming royal, Anslee Bennett. “It is still kind of crazy to think about being the homecoming queen because it was never something I ever thought would happen to me,” Bennett said. Even while being on ASB, Bennett made it all work out, while also enjoying herself. “I loved being in the parade on a convertible especially because it was driven by my coach. Also halftime and being crowned was of course fun and getting to celebrate with all my friends and family afterwards.” 

The parade and floats that accompanied  the homecoming royals was an overarching theme of board games, chosen by ASB. “For our individual float board game theme, we chose Monopoly because it’s a classic board game that everyone probably knows, and we thought it would [be] fun to put together and decorate!” Olson described. Sophomore class officer Cordelia Megowan added on to her Homecoming experience, commenting on the float build; “It was difficult because of the rain,[but] it was a good turn out and everyone who came was enthusiastic about it.” Homecoming week ended up being everyone’s one way ticket to paradise, while also bringing our community together again for a memorable tradition.