Breaking Norms

Becoming Homecoming King and Queen is a dream for most high school students. This year, two Sierra Vista students (Adriana Enriquez and Mariah Valle) broke with traditional norms when a girl become King. Thus, for the first time in Sierra Vista’s history, the school had a same sex Homecoming King and Queen.

Breaking with typical societal  standards, is quickly becoming a hallmark for this generation.  It really does show someone that anything can happen for the better and even though some people might not be supportive, focusing on oneself and not pleasing others is much more important. Enriquez broke these standards when winning Homecoming King, and showed everyone that women can accomplish anything, and they are just as capable, if not more, of holding positions of men.

While Valle originally planned to run for queen, Enriquez wanted to run as well, but she did not wish to run against her friend.

Adriana shared that she started to take the idea of becoming Homecoming King seriously when people started nominating her.

“It made me want to break the standard of a guy winning king because I hate how women are always so belittled and how men are always known to be better.” stated Enriquez.

This is truly astonishing, considering this emerges as the first female King here at Vista. Although some people might support her, others might not like this new change, and maybe even the couples who ran for King and Queen will feel upset.

“At first, I felt guilty because my friends were running for King and Queen. I did not want them to have the impression or think that I was better than them.” said Enriquez. “But I thought to myself, ‘if I do not do this, I will not be satisfied with myself’, because I always tend to be a people pleaser.” continued Enriquez.

However, focusing on those who did support either throughout the way or in the end is most important.

“It felt so good for people to come up to me saying ‘you are the first Homecoming King at Vista’ or ‘it is so iconic because you broke the standards’, but I really just wanted to prove that women can do anything.” commented Enriquez.

Winning Homecoming Queen is such a momentous occasion and something someone may never forget.

“The experience of winning was exhilarating and overall mind blowing!” said Valle. “To be on the car, having our names called, and hearing people yell and cheer for us was a feeling like no other.” continued Valle.

Enriquez did break norms in today’s society, but Valle also continued a legacy.

SVHS’s dance and step team Dynasty, have had someone from their team win Homecoming Queen for seven years now. For anyone, that’s something that they will never forget.

“It’s an honor to be able to carry out the legacy that the Dynasty alumni have created and I hope to see the legacy continue in the following future.” stated Valle.

Both Enriquez and Valle originally did this as a joke and just wanted to run for the fun of it, but as more and more people started to nominate them, they began to take this seriously in an attempt to change the gender roles and standards of Homecoming royalty.

“We all like to go through high school thinking that nobody pays attention to us, but something like this caught people’s attention and made a tremendous impact.” finished Valle.