The Wapakoneta High School Homecoming Court

will be presented before the homecoming game Friday night. Those chosen for the court include, from left, Brandon Barnes, Jace Mullen, Austin Stauffer, Kaleb Walter, John Buchanan, Autumn Lininger, Delaney Jordan, Nikane Ambos, Alex Nagel, Joslyn Taylor, Raquel Woten and Katelyn Rose. Not available when the photo was taken: Shawn Zink and Peyton Debell. Read more about these students on

Homecoming and school spirit week are this week, and Julie Courter, student senate advisor at Wapakoneta High School, was busy as far

back as April in planning this year's beach party theme.

"Just getting our theme ready and started getting ideas of what we're going to complete," she said.

She's been putting decorations up, making signs, getting tickets ready for sale, planning a dance and finding cars to escort the senior-only court.

The football game will be Friday, with the dance the following Saturday with Principal Scott Minnig and Assistant Principal Scott Selvey providing music. The dance will be held at the high school from 8-10:30 p.m.

The school cheerleaders have created school spirit week this week, and there will be a pep rally the afternoon of the game, where teams

and the homecoming court will be announced. Following a lap around the track, a ceremony

announcing winners will take place before the game at 6:30 p.m. Male escorts will not get to ride in the cars.

"We don't have the boys ride in the cars," she said. "To be honest, it was that way when I started Student Senate probably 10 or 12 years ago, and so we've just always done it that way."

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, there were no homecoming events last year.

This homecoming week was also the second year for a seniors-only court.

"Last winter during basketball season - so that that senior class could have a homecoming - we

did do a homecoming ceremony during a basketball game," she said. “We had six senior couples on that court."

She wanted to make it a seniors-only affair again and hopefully get more students involved.

"We have 220-250 kids in a class, and we just wanted to be able to get more kids involved," she

said. "If I do six senior girls and six senior boys that's 12 kids compared to what we [used to do], six kids."

To determine the court, Courter took the names of every single senior and sent a ballot out to seniors, who voted for 12 students. A second ballot was then sent out where the field was

narrowed down again to six boys and six girls. This week, a ballot was sent out to grades 9-12, and students can vote for king and queen.

She also hopes there's no rain come Friday at the game, but not for the typical reason.

"So we can have our homecoming ceremony and the girls and the boys don't get soaked walking down the field," she said. She also hopes kids have fun at the dance.

The first couple in this year's court includes Raquel Woten and Shawn Zink. Woten - daughter of Mark and Kimberly - is a member of both the National Honor Society and the Retro Yearbook. She volunteers at First United Methodist and enjoys spending time with family and friends and going to movies. She plans to major

in biochemistry at The Ohio State. Zink - son of Duane and Elise - is field commander for the marching band, band vice president and is a member of the National Honor Society. He participates in Impulse Drumline and plans to major in aerospace engineering at Kent State.

Joslyn Taylor - daughter of Robert and Jackie participates in track, the art club and the spanish club. She is a member of Gatekeepers and the National Honor Society. She plans to major in

early childhood education. Jace Mullen - son of Aaron and Kim - plays football and participates in track. He is also an Eagle Scout. He intends to study sports medicine or physical therapy.

Katelyn Rose - daughter of Stacy Music - is a cheerleader, but also enjoys bowling, swimming and singing. She wants to become a dentist. Peyton Debell - son of Chris and Tonja - plays soccer and is the senior class vice president. He's a

member of National Honor Society and enjoys cooking and hanging out with friends. He will major in biomedical science at The Ohio State.

Alexis Nagel - daughter of Lynne and Lucas teaches pottery and painting classes at Riverside Art Center. She enjoys making handmade pottery, jewelry and portraits at her own studio. While undecided on a college, she plans to major in art education and hopes to become a high

school art teacher while simultaneously owning a public pottery/art studio. Kaleb Walter - son of Nick and Amber - plays football and participates

in CYO basketball. He also fishes, shows pigs and likes spending time with friends. He wants to become a fire fighter.

Autumn Lininger - daughter of Hank and Erin - is in the marching band, is on the yearbook staff and is a member of the National Honor Society.

She attends Apollo Career Center and wants to become a high school teacher. She also plans to use her nail tech license. Austin Stuaffer - son of Doug and Julie - enjoys football and CYO basketball. He also hunts and fishes. He likes spending time with friends, and plans to major in mechanical engineering in college.

Delaney Jordan - daughter of Brad and Lisa is a cheerleader, editor of the yearbook and is a

member of National Honor Society. She also dances at the Dance Centre, enjoys reading and writing and spending time with family and

friends. She will major in English Education with a minor in English and women's studies and wants to teach

high school English. John Buchanan - son of Eric and Janet - enjoys

basketball, hanging out with friends, watching Netflix and listening to music. He

currently works at Woody's and plans to head to the workforce.

Nikane Amos daughter of Steve and Angie - enjoys football,

soccer, basketball and track. She's Student

Senate President and a member of the National Honor Society. She plans to major in computer science. Brandon Barnes - son of Mike Barnes and Jeni Braun - is a member of the

spanish club and works at Dairy Queen. He enjoys listening to

music, hanging out with friend and being

a member of the student section at high

school events. He plans to major in math

or music.