Category | Arts & Living

Homecoming court secures record votes

Published on November 17, 2009 by Rebecca Hood

“And this year’s homecoming king is, drum roll please “Edward Williams III!” said Nu’Nicka Epps, assistant director of Student life at the Nov. 12 homecoming dance.

This year, the homecoming dance was just a few miles from campus at the new Embassy Suites off Chastain Road. At the event, students were able to witness the crowning of the 2009 queen, Olivia Aston and king, Edward Williams III, along with the other homecoming court winners.

Each year, organizations at KSU nominate participants to compete for the title of lady, lord, duchess, duke, princess, prince, queen and king. Those nominated for lady and lord have fewer than 30 credit hours.               Duchess and duke have between 30 and 60 credit hours. Princess and prince have 60 to 90 hours. The queen and king have more than 90 hours.

The candidates for homecoming court campaign during homecoming week, passing out flyers, baking cookies, sidewalk chalking and meeting new faces around KSU. The student body was encouraged to vote online. This year was the first year students were able to log on to their Owl Express and vote for the homecoming court candidates.

The homecoming court candidate showcase Nov. 10 in the university rooms at 12:30 was the finalists’ first chance to campaign to an audience to earn their votes.

Each finalist on court was able to present a speech to those present. If a finalist was unable to attend because of class or other commitments, they were able to submit a slide beforehand for the audience to see.

Epps announced at the dance Thursday night that this year’s number of votes topped all other years in KSU’s history.

Approximately 1,800 votes were cast during the voting hours, from Nov. 9 at 9 a.m. to Nov. 11 at 1 p.m. The king and queen secured the most votes of a king and queen in KSU’s history.

Aston is a member of Delta Phi Epsilon Sorority and will be graduating in May as a theater major. She said being elected as KSU’s homecoming queen feels incredible, and unexpected.

“I’m going to do my best to make sure the image of a homecoming queen changes from the typical shiny person to a down to earth community minded individual,” said Aston.

Williams was nominated because of his role as a Resident Advisor at University Village. He is a health and physical education major and will be graduating in May.

Williams said being elected king makes him feel like he is making a difference at KSU.

“I feel like I’ve been able to make people excited about being at Kennesaw State,” said Williams.

Nick Langley of Kappa Sigma Fraternity was crowned prince and Delta Phi Epsilon’s Elizabeth Haden Mealer was crowned princess.

Duke was awarded to Andre Williams and duchess to Lacey Oakes of Delta Phi Epsilon.

The title of lord was awarded to Steven Cole, a resident of the University Village Suites, and lady was awarded to Phi Mu Fraternity Inc.’s Lauren Bennett.

In addition to being announced at the homecoming dance, the court was recognized in a parade held in downtown Kennesaw on Saturday. The court was again recognized and crowned at the homecoming basketball game Nov. 14.