Breaking the Status Quo: Making Hometown History

Rowan Thompkins (he/they)

    ​We’ve all seen the movies and shows covering homecoming and prom. Usually we see Mister and Misses Popular sweep the crown. Occasionally we’ll see the underdog come through and take it, but all scenarios typically have the same thing in common; the winners are usually cis, straight, white individuals. Well I want to tell you a little story of how the underdog broke that status quo, making history in the process. It’s important to hear good stories in such dark times. Hi! My name is Rowan Thompkins, and this is how I made history at my high school by winning both homecoming and prom royalty.

I come from a town connected to Lansing called Holt (about an hour from our lovely campus), and I attended Holt High School (go Rams!). It’s a nice school; the staff are awesome, it’s pretty diverse, there are lots of opportunities… but like most schools, it comes with its cliques and labels. The popular kids seem to rule above the rest, fitting the description of what I said before. By my senior year, I was a part of many groups. Primarily I was a band kid, which I know for a lot of people comes with a bad taste in their mouths, but I promise our band kids weren’t bad. I was also a theatre kid, participating in most shows at school. I was a part of student government, a peer mentor for freshmen, taking way too many AP classes, my school’s student representative for the school board, and I was even the unspoken president of our school’s GSA. I was floating all over the place, and while I wasn’t the high school definition of “popular”, I was definitely well known; if my name was said, people knew who it was. I was perfectly content, especially since we were now off the Zoom screens and back in person. I wanted to use my position on the school board to make change for my peers and advocate for those who really needed it. Little did I know I would be able to do all that and more.

Even before official nominations came out, people were campaigning for their name on the Homecoming ballot. I was always under the firm belief that school dances were rigged popularity contests, but I wanted to test it. One day on my Snapchat story, I posted, and I quote, “You know what would be funny? If y'all voted me for homecoming court”. Well a few days later when the ballot was to be announced, I got pulled out of my last class of the day by my counselor. I was confused, worried something bad had happened. Instead I was given a big congratulations for making it on the homecoming court. I just looked at her, thinking this whole thing was a joke. When my picture was getting taken for the yearbook, I realized it was in fact not. How could I know that a troll Snapchat story would actually be taken seriously? At this time, I was publicly out as non-binary, but it wasn’t accepted at home, making things a little tricky in getting my name out. I am very fortunate that for this journey, the staff in charge of homecoming worked directly with me to make sure I was comfortable and the right name was being used. I was asked what name I wanted on the ballot, and I knew I needed to put my preferred. From that moment on, I decided to go along with this campaign. I would take this popularity contest and make it mean something.

Thus began my journey in making this a campaign for change. I made it crystal clear that I was not running for the sake of myself. I was running for the trans/gender-queer students who want to see themselves represented in a place that shuns them. I was running for the black/mixed kids who always feel lesser than their white peers. I was running for the band and theatre kids who are just deemed weird. I was running for the bigger kids who never see someone like them in positions like that. I wanted people to know it is possible for them too. Instead of begging for votes, I posted facts and statistics of underrepresented groups, bringing light to the fact that everyone deserves to be represented and celebrated. During this time, I was unaware that the other court members were talking together, deciding who was gonna walk with who and such. I was not included, and I didn’t even know about it until I was reached out to by one of the most popular and well known guys in our class (we will call him Tony). Tony said that the two of us would be walking together for the assembly and the football game. I was immediately freaked out because I had never even talked to him before, and now I was going to be his partner for this whole thing. He was being really nice to me, so I calmed down a bit. The assembly went smoothly, despite me being nervous beyond belief. I linked my arms with Tony and walked down the field, the cheers of my friends and bandmates drowning out my fears. Tony and I got to talk and know each other a bit more, and the other court members were being so kind. I actually started to feel a sense of belonging, and it was a pretty diverse group that year, so I was excited for whatever outcome happened. That sense of belonging, though, was temporary…

The day of the game came, and I was so excited, yet beyond nervous. Being displayed in front of my peers was already scary enough, but now I was going to be displayed to the whole town. I also thought that all of us senior court members would be on a float together, but that was not the case. Tony and I would be on a truck together, tossing candy to the kids, in our homecoming outfits. I didn’t have the money or time for a fancy outfit, so I just wore my dress pants, a blazer, and this purple dress shirt I loved (purple is my favorite color). For once, I felt really good about myself, which apparently is too good to be true. I got to the truck early and was sitting by myself, just people watching. I saw Tony come up with his family, passing the truck and subtly pointing at me. It was at that moment I knew the nice guy act was a facade. I could actively see and hear him talking badly about me to his family, all of them pointing and laughing at me. I felt like such a joke. I knew that I wasn’t meant to be there, and my spirit was absolutely crushed. For that entire parade, I was holding my tears in. I wanted nothing more than to be in my band uniform, marching the parade with my bandmates. As soon as the parade ended, I ran back to the band room crying. My friends and some stray band kids all approached me, asking what was wrong. I explained, and I was hit with even more bad news. Apparently Tony had been nice to my face, but the entire time he was dead naming me and using the wrong pronouns when talking about me. He also made it known that he would rather do anything else than walk with me. I was beyond devastated. My band mates comforted me, threatening to take care of Tony for me, but I just shook my head. My reason for doing this only became clearer.
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I wasn’t doing this for me; I was doing this for those like me. I was doing this so the Tony’s of this school would know that the underdogs matter too. I wiped my tears, more determined than ever to do this. I was planning on marching the halftime show in my nice clothes, but I immediately changed my mind. I would march the show, then walk the field, in my band uniform. The band kids were one of the groups I was representing anyways, so it was the right thing to do. All throughout the game, my friends were keeping me hype. I am usually the hype man for the band, so I was doing my job to keep everyone excited in return. Halftime was approaching, so we started lining up on the track to take the field. As we started lining up, I was again approached by my counselor. She asked me if I were to win, what name should be announced, and what crown I would like. I said to use my dead name, since family members were in attendance, and I would take the tiara. I was quick to brush off the questions, believing there was no way I could possibly win, but my friends already started congratulating me, saying there was no way she would ask if I lost. I didn’t want to bring my hopes up, so I got in line, and we made our way to start of show. As we marched the shortened halftime show, my heart started beating faster and faster. When the band got in position for the homecoming portion, I set my sousaphone with my band director, who gave me a wink and a smile; he was my biggest support system in high school, and I absolutely adored him. I got in line with the other court members, and they started giving me looks for having my band uniform on. I shrugged them off, wished them good luck, linked arms with Tony, and waited. When our names were called, we walked down the field, my band mates stopping their playing to cheer for me. All of us court members lined up, waiting with bated breath for our names to be called. The first name was announced, and I was really happy for the winner. She was someone I really liked, and she broke the status quo herself. They let a long pause ring before announcing the second name. I felt Tony straighten up next to me, sure he was going to win. I watched him deflate when the next name was announced.

My name. They said my name on the speakers. My jaw dropped, and so did many of the other court members’. I had never heard louder cheering in my life. The band members behind me were screaming like banshees, my band director basically having to hold them back from running up to me. My family and friends screamed in front of me, happy to see me win. I just couldn’t believe it. To think a sarcastic Snapchat post got me here. The two crown options were presented to me, and I didn’t care anymore. I took my king crown and wore it proudly. As we stood for pictures, I could see my band mates marching off the field into our signature spiral.

​At the end of the halftime show, the band goes to one of the end zones and starts marching in a giant spiral to keep the energy going. I didn’t want to be with the court members anymore; I wanted to be with my band family. As soon as the pics were over, I ran (and I don’t run, so that’s how you know I was going off pure adrenaline) all the way across the field and jumped directly into the middle of that spiral. My band mates cheered around me, and we celebrated together because when one of us wins, we all win. ​

Seriously though, that run was impressive, and I put the football team to shame. My band director looked at me with such pride and gave me a hug and congratulated me. That moment would have been enough to be worth it. We got back to the stands, and I stayed down on the track to keep the crowd hype. I saw Tony in the stands glaring at me, clearly upset that some fat trans band kid won over him. So what did I do? I winked at him and bowed, tipping my crown to him. He did not like that. I was over the moon. A lot of firsts happened because of my win. I was the first openly queer person to win, the first openly trans person, and I may have been the first band win as well. 

​That sense of belonging was quick to return after that, and that evening went down as one of the best moments of my life. My description of it doesn’t even begin to capture how that moment truly felt to me. The memory lived on, not just with me, but with my peers too. The dance and everything was fun, yes, but the impact of this win was the best part. The next week at school, it seems now everyone knew who I was. I had people from all sorts of groups and such coming up to me, telling me how much my win meant to them. I will never forget the little freshman who came up to me and told me that I was his inspiration and that he found the courage to come out as trans because of me. I did what I wanted to, and I showed people that they do belong and have a place here. I will admit, I was treated a lot better after that, and people were ready to welcome me with open arms now. I, however, was perfectly content with my people who loved me from the beginning and always made me feel wanted and included. Senior year was now in full swing, and I thought that was going to be my big moment for the year… that was until prom season came around. 

Now I wasn’t planning on doing anything for prom besides attend. My best friend at the time wanted to try and get on the court after my homecoming victory, and they suggested we run together. I laughed it off because, again, it was a popularity contest, and there was no way I would win anyways after already doing so once. I did, however, cave in and decided to go for it. I made another post on my story, saying, and I quote, “You guys, you know what would be absolutely hilarious? If you voted me and [best friend’s name] for prom”. I should have known that if it worked once, it would work again, because both of us ended up on the ballot. If you could imagine the deadpan face meme, that was my expression when I saw. This meant time for more advocacy for change. I used my position on the school board after the last win to help start our school’s DEI department, and it brought some awesome changes and programs, so I wanted to use this to do something like that again. Once again instead of asking for the votes of my peers, I asked them to open their minds and hearts to those who are different. I immediately had people coming to me and verbalizing their vote, wanting to be a part of the change. It was so heartwarming to see people come together like that, and it only grew the closer we got to the dance. 

I decided to go all out for prom, wanting to go as my authentic self. I’d always wanted to wear a tux, but with my family not supporting me being non-binary, it was hard to get clothes I actually wanted and liked. My father surprised me, paying for a tux for me to rent for the dance (thank you dad, you will never know how much that meant to me. Rest in peace). I was over the moon, and even looking back now makes me emotional. That was the first time since coming out that I felt right in my body. The next day going into pictures with my friends, I felt so excited. Like last time, I didn’t care whether I won or not, as long as I got to be the voice for the voiceless and give hope to those who need it. I was also just super excited for my last high school dance with a really good group of people.

We did our pictures, went out for dinner, then we arrived at the dance at the Lansing Lugnuts baseball field. We were all skeptical about the location, but it ended up being the perfect venue. Plenty of space, outside in the fresh air, great view. I decided to take the band hype man energy to the dance, and I was making sure to keep the energy high and fun. I went around taking pictures with everyone and busting down on the dance floor. Absolutely nothing felt like it could make that night better. Halfway through the evening they called everyone to the floor to announce the winners for prom royalty. I was sure it was going to be two of my friends who had been pushing for it, and I honestly hoped it would be them. Two openly queer bestie theatre kids; how iconic would that be? The first name was announced, and it was a friend who was really out there campaigning for the win. I was super happy for her, though sad for my friends. At this point, nobody knew who could be the other name. I wish I could imprint the video onto this article of the reactions we all had when it was my name that was announced.

Shock, confusion, joy, everything just hit all at once. I could not even begin to comprehend what was happening. I was pushed in front next to the other winner, and the crown was placed on my head. The cheers were deafening. The popular kids who had made their own little circle on the dance floor looked at me with their jaws to the floor. People were clapping my back, congratulating me, and even the staff told me they had hoped I would win because of what I was doing this for. Yet again it was another win for those who seem to never win. I made history once more, being the first openly gay and trans prom royalty, and I was the first person ever to win both prom and homecoming. I didn’t understand why the universe seemed to smile on me this much senior year. It seemed like this double win couldn’t be denied by those in the popular circle, and I had people coming up to me and trying to talk to me, trying to take pictures, and just interact with me when I never had previously. I just pushed back and got to my people, celebrating with those who truly cared. I called my dad and told him the news, and I could just hear the pride in his voice when I told him. The rest of the night felt like a dream. We danced and partied until they kicked us out, just having the time of our lives.

 
​I remember stepping away from my group and taking a moment to just look out and reflect. I just couldn’t believe it. I remember first moving to Holt in 8th grade. I was the fat new kid that nobody even wanted to be near or sit next to. Now look at me. Leaving the dance kind of felt like Cinderella leaving the ball to get home before midnight. I went to a friend's place with the group afterwards and spent the night. I took off the crown and the tux and put on my pajamas, and suddenly I was back to the classic Rowan.
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School came as normal the next week, and I used the weekend’s victory to implement even more change in the school. I told the school board that more support needed to be offered to its LGBTQ+ students, advocated for more support in the arts programs, pitched a conference for teachers to learn more about underrepresented groups and how they can better support students, and much more. I had more people come up to me to tell me how they felt represented by me and appreciated what I did for them. I knew that upon graduation, I would be leaving my mark on Holt High School. You see, my ultimate goal in life is to help as many people as possible. I want to leave this world a better place than I entered it. These little victories helped me in that goal, showing that school that no matter who you are, what you look like, or where you come from, you belong there. That’s my story of how I made Holt history in more ways than one. 

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