Meet the Homecoming Court: Jesters

By Staff Writers Erika Liu, Mansi Mundada, Saesha Prabhakar, Andy Zhang, Lucas Zhang

Andrea Ishananto

Homecoming Jester Candidate Andrea Ishananto is a prominent figure on campus, having performed in more than 20 airbands at MSJ — nine of which she has led. Besides choreographing dances, she also enjoys running on the Varsity Girls Cross Country and Track & Field teams, where she serves as a captain, and participating in breakdancing sessions at the Martin Luther King Library in San Jose State University. Andrea has looked forward to running for this coveted title since her freshman year, when Aiden Paragas, that year’s Homecoming Jester, inspired her with his humor. Since then, her goal has been to be the most humorous and spirited figure at MSJ, winning the Spirit Award for Homecoming twice. Her entertaining personality extends even beyond school and can be seen through her daily morning routine. “I programmed my Roomba to wake me up at the same time every morning … it goes over to my door at like 7:30 a.m.,” Ishananto said.

“[If I were Homecoming Jester], I would integrate break dancing into everything — like the [Physical Education] dance unit, a specific day for break dancing, a break dance club — so everyone is break dancing,” Ishananto said.

 

Roshan Markar

Despite his colorblindness, Homecoming Jester Candidate Roshan Markar hopes to make MSJ students’ lives brighter and more vibrant. With his witty humor and cheerfulness, Markar keeps his friends laughing both inside and outside classrooms. He is involved in multiple activities around school, from participating in Varsity Boys Baseball for four years, to joining MSJ Ishaara in his senior year. Beyond MSJ, Markar enjoys spending time with his family and volunteering at many organizations around the Bay Area. Markar’s friends and goals of bringing more energy and liveliness to MSJ inspired him to run for Homecoming Jester. 

“If laughter is the best medicine, then I guess you could say I am a pretty good doctor,” Markar said.

 

Aanya Patel

Homecoming Jester Candidate Aanya Patel is an extremely social, humorous, and well-rounded person. Within MSJ, she serves as a Varsity Girls Golf Co-Captain, and loves volunteering at club events.  Beyond school, Patel loves baking, listening to music, hanging out with her friends, and especially travelling, having visited over 60 countries. Patel’s active participation in Homecoming, from performing in several airbands to contributing to Deco, as well as her funny and outgoing personality, inspired her to run for Jester. “I can bring people together and … have that homecoming spirit and … [can] get people going especially for the rest of the week,” Patel said. Patel uses her humor as a way to ease stress, help others relax, and bring more spirit to the MSJ community because of the intense academic climate.

“[Once you come to MSJ], it pretty much works out, people kind of build this community together, you make friends, you build relationships with peers and teachers,” Patel said.

 

Rohit Upamaka

Looking to continue spreading positivity across MSJ, Homecoming Jester Candidate Rohit Upamaka believes that everyone should be able to find their voice on campus. To contribute to the student body, Upamaka has worked his way up to MSJ Spanish Honors Society Vice President and speaks competitively as a member and President of MSJ Speech and Debate. During his free time, he enjoys listening to Indian classical music, playing chess, and dancing. Upamaka believes that MSJ students should learn to separate Homecoming and other spirit activities from academics because there is no inherent connection between those two fields. In his thoughts, students already focus a lot on schoolwork and grades on typical days at MSJ, and Homecoming, an event meant to highlight the non-academic side of the school, should serve as a break from those thoughts. Upamaka decided to run for Homecoming court off of a whim because his friends think he has a funny personality.

“As [Homecoming] Jester, you don’t have to be the most important person to be recognized at the school … I feel like I’m enough of a positive and happy person that I can say I can properly represent the brighter parts [of] MSJ,” Upamaka said.

 

Note: The Smoke Signal was unable to interview 2025 Homecoming Jester Candidate Justin Wu.