Homecoming is hands down the most popular game of any sport at North Penn. Whether you see it as a popularity contest or just another football game, two students are named king and queen. Lucky enough for us, they are both amazing people inside and out.

Bobby Dougherty and Molly Agriss both ran and won homecoming king and queen. They are now the faces of our student body. It wasn’t an easy road to get to this title.

“We all had been texting each other. ‘Do you think you want to run? Do you want to run?’ So that’s how it all started with everyone, but to me I knew I was like, let me go through it because I just want to make a difference. I want to be genuine because I’m for the people, not like I’m better than you because I don’t see that,” Dougherty explained.

Leading up to the final nominations was a hectic time for these students.

“I just had so many teachers cheering me on. ‘Bobby, I want to see you up on that podium. I want to see you make it as far as you can.’ Because originally I was just like if I make court, I’ll be fine. I’m not gonna campaign and tell people to be like, I want to do this. But all my friends are like, ‘No, Bobby, you should really do this. Like you make an impact on all of us.’ I didn’t really realize that because I wanted everyone else to win,” Dougherty said.

“I was just really excited to be nominated. I thought it was such a cool experience to even be thought of to be one of the girls,” Agriss added.

Homecome week was packed with so many different activities and events for all the candidates to participate in and left great memories for their senior year.

“It was just so many fun emotions because I gotta have a family and we still talk to each other after homecoming which is amazing. But the whole week was just fun. We would all meet with each other either during the morning or during one of the periods and take group photos…I really loved that whole experience because it was just so breathtaking to be with people who I would give the world too,” Doughtery said.

“That was one of the most fun weeks I’ve had in a long time…We had all these different events and things we had to do and practice. It was just really special being with everyone and we got to become really close in the one week that we were together. We all knew each other, but none of us were like, super close. But by the end of the week, we were like best friends,” Agriss explained.

There were so many things to participate in but our king and queen both had favorites for the week.

“I really liked the pep rally. I just thought it was so cool because that was the first time the whole school or part of the school has been in one place since before COVID. I just thought it was really awesome to see everyone and that was my first school pep rally. It was also my first real school assembly and I’m graduating high school. That’s crazy,” Agriss explained.

Right before their debut at the homecoming game, the nominees got together to have dinner and enjoy their last moments before a king and queen were nominated.

“We got to talk and have dinner. I got to meet everyone’s parents. It was just so much fun…Mrs. Young and Mr. Berger knew for a couple hours…We got our final pep talk and she goes ‘no matter what happens make the best of tonight,” Bobby elaborated.

“Everyone was all dressed up and everyone looked so pretty. We were all so excited. At that point no one even cared about who won, it was just the fact of being together…That was the best part about it. No one was even thinking about the king and queen. We were just like, let’s get pictures, let’s eat, and let’s have fun. We were just so excited to be together,” Agriss stated.

Winning the crown and being named king and queen isn’t the only significance of the night.

“I’m going to step away from the idea of like, ‘oh my god the most votes.’ I look at it from the fact that I’ve won by being genuine and being me from the beginning…I’m not just doing this for me anymore. I’m doing it for every other kid who doesn’t have that choice, who’s like ‘I want to be up there. Like I feel like I could do that.’ Every kid that is also part of the LGBTQ+ community. I’m a part of that community. Yes, that’s a part of me, but that’s not my identity every day… it’s just a little piece of me. So I’m going to show those kids that you can do this if you push yourself to limits,” Dougherty explained.

“I’ve always tried to be kind to everyone. That’s my main goal. When I come to school, just to be a smiling face and make people’s day better. So it just really meant a lot to see that kind of thing, people notice and it does make a difference. I am also very involved in special olympics so it was really cool to be a representative of special olympics there that night,” Agriss stated.

High School homecoming games are a prominent memory for all students but for these two winners it might have been the biggest highlight of their year.

“If I could do it all over again, I would not change anything. I would just stretch out the time period and have many more moments,” Dougherty concluded.