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By Avery Liby

At 5:30 am senior Abby Miller wakes up to find out she is a WoCo candidate.

On the first day of winter break, senior Winter Homecoming candidates were woken up bright and early by broadcast students to make their famous candidate package that goes on MVTV. Seniors Annie Bogart and Morgan Blubaugh were in charge of the video.

“On the last day before winter break Annie got the names of the candidates and wasn’t allowed to tell anyone besides me. We texted the candidates parents and mapped their addresses so we could see how far we were from them and how much time we would need,” Blubaugh said. “I got up around 5 a.m., and then we drove to all of their houses and woke them up.”

After senior Audrey Grabmeier got woken up, she was excited to be a candidate.

“I was really confused why people were walking in my room and turning all my lights on, but then I was excited when I knew what it was because I could figure out what they were doing,” Grabmeier said.

Blubaugh and Bogart wanted to bring this tradition to Winter Homecoming in hopes to bring more spirit to the week.

“It’s always been a tradition for homecoming, and Annie and I wanted to bring that same energy to Winter Homecoming,” Blubaugh said. “We wanted to add something else to the video besides just their pictures.”

Despite Grabmeier’s mom giving her a few hints, she was still shocked in the morning.

“I had an idea that something might be happening because my mom dropped a few hints, but I didn’t know what exactly it was so I was still surprised,” Grabmeier said.

The best part about waking up the candidates is seeing their faces when they wake up, according to Blubaugh.

“Their faces when they wake up are so funny,” Blubaugh said. “Some of them already kind of expected it, if some of their parents were like ‘clean your room’ or ‘put some clothes on,’ but some of them were so surprised because we were waking them up at 5:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning and they were not expecting it at all.”

Being a Winter Homecoming candidate to Grabmeier means being recognized for the hard work she does for the school.

“To me, I think it means some people see how hard I work in our school and respect some of the hard work that I busy myself with to improve Mill Valley,” Grabmeier said.