For many here at Granada High School, homecoming week is a time full of excitement, and few others could have experienced it as much as Kyla McKenzie. For those who didn’t attend the Thursday night drone show, the ending formation spelled out “Kyla,” followed by “Homecoming?” underneath. Anthony D’Onofrio, the coordinator of the drone show, decided to pop the question in one of the most unique ways possible; in front of the whole school with a bunch of flying robots. He followed it up with a smaller, more tangible sign for her, “so she wouldn’t get confused and think ‘maybe it’s me’” joked D’Onofrio.
Despite the lack of drones in other proposals, they can still be just as special to the people they’re for. Freshman Kennedi Keegan says receiving her proposal, “brightened [her] whole day,” and that she “was in a bad mood and then it all faded away.” Her proposal was from her boyfriend, and consisted of a volleyball with the words, “Set Up Homecoming With Me?” and a gift basket she found on her desk in her first-period class. Senior Scarlett LaPointe, also a volleyball player, was gifted a volleyball with a similar pun and sunflowers after one of her games. Samuel Gutierrez asked his girlfriend to homecoming with five signs, which ended up spelling, “Will you be my chick at hoco?” the pun being the word “chick.” Gutierrez says he would have bought her a real chick but it was not returnable. Nonetheless, it still makes for a cute proposal.
To prove that you don’t need a date to enjoy homecoming, friends Claire Taulbee and Ellie Kraft planned to make each other signs in advance and chose which day to present them to each other. Claire’s sign for Ellie was Rapunzel-themed and said “Don’t get TANGLED up with boys!” and then asked her to homecoming. Ellie said she thinks creating cute opportunities like this is fun, but both she and Claire think it’s a better idea to plan ahead so the people you ask aren’t taken by surprise.
The general consensus of both the proposal creators and recipients is that doing something special or out of the ordinary to ask someone to be your date, like making a sign with a pun on it, is not overrated at all. “I think they’re fun,” stated Anthony D’Onofrio. Kyla McKenzie agreed that “they’re really sweet… a way to show affection [without] PDA.” Scarlett LaPointe brought up another idea that homecoming proposals are “fun to help people with,” so it can be a nice experience for people outside the couple as well. Most of the interviewees also agree on the fact that in a traditional male/female relationship, the guy should ask out the girl for homecoming and prom, but the girls should ask out for winter ball.
