Tuesday, May 19, 2026
2026 Gowanda Jr.-Sr. Prom Coronation
Pictured are the Royalty from the 2026 Gowanda Jr.-Sr. Prom. From left to right, are Princess Aubrey Smuda, Prince Jayden Fish, King Winter Mentley-Peters and Queen Janice Sanders.
The 2026 Gowanda Central School Jr.-Sr. Prom Coronation was held on Saturday, May 16 in the high school auditorium. Master of Ceremonies for the event was retiring Assistant Principal, David Smith, assisted by his wife, Jill. On hand to crown the new royalty were Homecoming King and Queen, Landon Ashley and Darcy Kennedy, respectively.
As is the custom for GCS Prom Coronation ceremonies, all of the prom goers were introduced to the audience in their prom attire before moving on to the coronation itself. Then the candidates were introduced. In a departure from the past format, the ceremony was divided into a Junior Class, Prince/Princess segment and a Senior Class, King/Queen one. Additionally, instead of introducing the candidates in pairs, is was girls as a group and boys as a group for each segment.
The Junior Class Princess candidates, Emmarie Gillen, Malayna Pawlak and Aubrey Smuda were brought in first. Followed by the Junior Class Prince candidates, Damien Cedri, Jayden Fish, Porter Lemke, and Dalen Stevens. That was followed by the crowning of the Junior Class royalty, Jayden Fish, Prince, and then, Aubrey Smuda, Princess.
Now it was time to bring in the Senior Class King and Queen candidates. Starting with the girls, Makayla Kraft, Liz Malek and Janice Sanders. Then the boys, Lukas Barrett, Marcus Gamble, Winter Mentley-Peters and Alanson Stafford. The ceremony concluded with Winter Mentley-Peters crowned as King and Janice Sanders crowned as Queen.
A brief period of photo taking followed before leaving for the Prom itself.
The Prom Royalty and complete court were gathered on stage for photos after the ceremony.
A video of the full ceremony is available on the GowandaOnline page at bitChute at: