It was a special Friday night for Claremont High School senior August Waggener, who at halftime of the CHS homecoming game was crowned this year’s homecoming queen. Waggener was escorted by their parent, Adam Johnson, before being crowned by last year’s queen, Abigail Liu.

Waggener was confused at first because the announcement poster was hard to read. “I couldn’t see the paper so I was like, ‘Oh, who is it?’ And then I was like, ‘Oh my gosh that’s my name!’ That’s so cool.”

Waggener, who prefers to go by gender neutral pronouns, explained that their homecoming achievement did feel “a little bit” like they were moving gender boundaries.

“The school staff were very respectful and open to asking like, ‘Are you okay with being on the princess side, as the [potential] queen and stuff?’ And then they made my sash say ‘royalty’ and it was really cute, I almost started crying,” Waggener explained. “I guess you can see it as breaking a barrier. I see it more as like … making [the barriers] more flexible.”

Despite the one-to-five odds of winning, Waggener said it felt “really nice” to be celebrated on the evening as throughout the week, friends kept giving them encouragement — always reassuring Waggener that they would win. COURIER photo/Andrew Alonzo

Click here for a complete story including the 2021 homecoming game highlights.