Kelly Jia: I am involved in a lot of activities on campus like Math Club, Book Club, marching band, and student government. I thought running for homecoming queen would be a fun experience since I knew so many different groups on campus. I did not have any specific intentions, and I did not think too much about the nomination and campaigning process.

Irvington has a lot of diversity in its student body and also offers a wide variety of clubs on campus, probably the most of any school. I feel like I reflect that because I am not only interested in STEM-related activities such as Math Club, but also more humanity-related things like Book Club.

There have been so many meaningful moments for me in Irvington. Leading homecoming this week in general was really meaningful to me. I also remember when juniors won over seniors for spirit week last year when I was junior class officer. It is also small things like when we sold out of mochi donuts for Book Club at club rush.

This year’s Homecoming week was really unique and nice. Even though I am VP of ASG and I was in charge of homecoming week, Katie, the ASG President, did not tell me anything about the nominations, voting, and such.

All of the candidates are super exceptional; for example Reilly. I never interacted with him before this year and he is honestly such a great guy. Even my mom thought that he was such a sweet person when she met him at the homecoming game as my escort! Things like that make me happy because these people represent our schools so well.

I have a big social media following and presence which definitely helped when running for homecoming court. I think being in a lot of clubs, organizations, and being extroverted worked to my advantage a lot.

Obviously, my friends and family were my biggest supporters. I got a lot closer to my underclassmen friends just by telling them more about my campaign.