When the Chardon High School Homecoming Court was announced this year, many were left with a very hard decision to make. Candidates for Queen were Christine Stanko, Marina Loos, Jamie Benjamin, Kelly Douglas, and Kelly Turk. Nominees for King included Nick Mysyk, Matt Gittins, Jeremy Bolton, Kyle Grimm, and Ray Bender. Ray Bender and Kelly Turk took the crown with the utmost support of the student body.
When the queen was officially announced, the Chardon Crazies went, well, crazy. Queen Turk took congratulatory statements from nearly every Chardonite at the game. However, there was still one question that still had yet to be answered: who would end up becoming Homecoming King?
The evening of Homecoming was an exciting one for the Hilltoppers. Dinners, well-dressed individuals, and dancing was in the mind of everyone that was present. Most importantly though, most everyone was looking forward to the magic time of 10:30, the time the King would be crowned.
At 10:28, the student body began filing into the gym, watching the Homecoming court intently. As the DJ started announcing the name of the King, the gym became a deafening place to be. Chants of “King Ray” echoed throughout the building, as the slow dance started, celebrating the official crowning of King Ray and Queen Kelly.
Candidate for Queen, Kelly Douglas, was very excited for the Queen. “I’m happy for them,” she said pleasantly. “I think they are both very nice people and they deserved it, absolutely,” she added.
Senior Caitlin Cooney, who also went to Homecoming, said, “I was happy for everyone that was elected onto court. I thought that they all deserved to be King and Queen, but I know know everyone was able to have the honor of being the official King and Queen.”
Junior Olivia Weisenbach, who also voted for Ray, added a few comments. “I voted for Ray because he is just an all-around great guy! He seems like he has always worked hard in life to get where he is, so I think he definitely deserved it.”
After graciously accepting their positions as Queen and King, Kelly and Ray have “never walked around with a chip on their shoulder,” as junior Nick Nazerini put it. “They were so humble and still remain to be humble, even though they got such great honors. I truly could not have picked better people from the court.”