Copperas Cove Homecoming Court announced
By BRITTANY FHOLER
Cove Leader-Press
The winners of the 2020-2021 Copperas Cove High School Homecoming Court will be announced at the Varsity Basketball game on Friday, Feb. 5, against the Shoemaker Wolves.
The Homecoming festivities had been rescheduled from last fall, following game cancellations due to COVID-19.
This year’s Freshman Duchess is Ella Crawley, sponsored by the Texas Association of Future Educators. Crawley is the daughter of Crossroads High School Principal Pat Crawley and Deputy Superintendent of Instructional Services Amanda Crawley.
This year’s Sophomore Duchess is Laikyn Cornet, sponsored by Varsity Cheerleading. Cornet is the daughter of Sandy Cornet.
This year’s Junior Duchess is Perise Sasa Siaosi. She is sponsored by the Pride of Cove Band. She is the daughter of Hector and Savali Siaosi.
CCHS has added a Countess and Baron to the lineup of royalty this year. These students are enrolled in CCHS’s Life Skills 18 Years-Plus class. This year’s Baron is Julius Cruz. He is a senior in high school and the son of Marcos and Jamie Cruz. His goals are to help special needs kids and go to college and make everyone smile. This year’s Contessa is Lyann Clemente, who is also a senior in high school. She is the daughter of Lisanial Bernacet-Rivera. She wants to be a professional singer and dancer.
The candidates for Homecoming Queen are Shakira Lumpkin, Kacy Carter and Savanna Walker.
Lumpkin, 17, is sponsored by the National Honor Society. She is the daughter of Clint and Keatha Gipson.
Carter, 17, is sponsored by Lady Dawg Soccer. She is the daughter of Kirby and Florenda Carter.
Walker, 18, is sponsored by Varsity Cheerleading. She is the daughter of Anya Lovejoy.
Lumpkin said she was excited and felt humbled to be chosen to be on the Homecoming Court. She participated last year and won Junior Duchess.
“It was a great experience, and I’m really glad I get to experience it again my senior year,” Lumpkin said.
This year, Lumpkin did school virtually and said she was really going to miss her peers and classmates after graduation. She plans to attend the University of Alabama and pursue a career in pediatric nursing.
For Carter and Walker, this year was their first year participating in the Homecoming Court.
Carter said she was glad that even though it was postponed, that the school still chose to hold Homecoming festivities.
Carter said she would miss her teachers and friends when she goes off to college.
“I feel like high school grew me into the person that I am today and it helped me mature so much,” Carter said.
She plans to attend Texas A&M University and major in aerospace engineering, and she hopes to make an impact on women in the STEM field.
Walker said that even being postponed, the Homecoming festivities were special
“I hink it’s really special that this is allowed to happen, and even though we’ve had such a crazy senior year and so many things have been taken away, it’s like one more thing that we do get to hold on to,” Walker said. “I think I speak for all of us that we’re real excited to do this.”
Walker added that the Class of 2021 is also really special.
“There’s something about our class where we have some kind of camaraderie, where we’re so close and a lot of us still support each other, so I feel like this ending, our class graduating, is a little bit bittersweet almost that we made it through high school, but who would have known from our freshman year that this would have been how we graduate and everything,” Walker said.
Walker plans to attend the University of Texas and study International Relations. She was accepted into the Honors Program on Thursday and said she plans to study abroad as well.
Walker attributed CCHS’s Early College program with her success.
“I already have 47 college credits, so that’s really something that I hold dear to my heart, and I think that’s something very unique about this school is you get the college experience and the high school experience all in one,” Walker said.
This year’s candidates for Homecoming King were Russel Cochran, Ryan Connor and Detriveon McDonald.
Cochran, 19, is sponsored by DECA. He is the son of Russ and Jennifer Cochran.
Connor, 17, is sponsored by Football. He is the son of Chris and Tracy Dawson.
McDonald, 17, is sponsored by Cheer. He is the son of Milton and Cleo McDonald.
Cochran said he appreciated the school still holding Homecoming.
“I just feel honored to be able to be in it, all the support of my friends, everyone gathering up and voting just feels really good,” Cochran said.
He said that he liked how many opportunities he had at CCHS with the different organizations and sports available. He plans to attend Cisco College and play baseball and football and major in business and finance.
Connor said he was feeling very happy to be a part of Homecoming and very glad that the school came together to make Homecoming happen. He plans to attend Ranger College to study welding and become a pipeline welder.
McDonald said he was happy that the school still went on with Homecoming and that the senior class would be able to experience it before graduation.
He plans to pursue a career in pediatrics after attending the University of Anchorage Alaska and pre-major in Surgical Technologies.
For McDonald, CCHS has helped prepare him for his future after high school.
:I would say Cove has prepared me more than most schools would for my future,” McDonald said. He is currently an intern and goes to different campuses in the district.
“That course is helping me and pushing me farther in the healthcare career field so I’m pretty happy that Cove has a good foundation and can push people off into proper careers,” McDonald said.
Friday’s Homecoming activities will begin at 6:30 p.m.