After a long week of Homecoming festivities Jules Mayard and Jaclyn Lattanza were finally announced as the Homecoming King and Queen on Saturday night during Homecoming.
But before Homecoming, the Stony Brook Homecoming Court got to show off their Seawolf spirit this past Tuesday night at the “Creative Explosion” in the SAC auditorium.
The candidates had to sell themselves to their fellow classmates, who cheered and laughed along throughout the show.
“The creative explosion is an opportunity for all of our homecoming king and queen candidates to showcase what it means to be a Seawolf, and who they are to our campus community,” Kimberly Mones, assistant director of student activities who was in charge of putting on the show, said.
The event consisted of small introductions of the candidates to the audience. Then each candidate had the opportunity to answer questions. Lastly, the contestants entertained the crowd.
The candidates all answered the same three questions. The first question was “Why should you be homecoming king/queen?” The second question was something related to an individual candidate application and the third question was, “If you could create one new tradition at Stony Brook, what would it be?”
After the questions, each candidate came back out, one by one, to entertain the crowd with a dance, video, skit, or performance. Each candidate brought something different to the table.
The SAC auditorium was filled up with students who came out to support their friends and to show off their school spirit. Of course, Wolfie was hanging around his fellow Seawolves.
Evann Slaughter, a senior anthropology major, attended the show to support of her friends who were in the court.
“I wanted to see their performances, I was really excited for it,” she said. She added that though she is a supporter of Homecoming King candidate Mayard, she thought that all of the acts were really good.
At the end of the night, those who attend were able to place their ballot in the voter’s box, but only if they stayed for the whole show. Voting remained available online until Friday, since not all students were able to make it to the show.
According to Mones, the Homecoming King and Queen candidates were notified on Sept. 10 that they were on the court, giving the students about two weeks to prepare for the show.
“They are troopers, and they do a fantastic job with such a short amount of time,” she said.
Mayard performed Stony Brook inspired parodies of songs, beginning with his version of “Hey There Delilah” changed to “Hey There Miss Wolfie.” He also tackled a fan favorite, “Ice Ice Baby.”
“I loved them, they were so fun,” Zaara Irshad, a freshman majoring in biochemistry said when talking about the performances of the candidates. “Everybody is amazing, they have such school spirit.”
Lattanza was also in the music and dancing spirit. She, like her King, began her act with a parody of the song “Rapper’s Delight” by the Sugarhill Gang.
“There’s a lot of spirit and a lot of pride,” John Leddy, director emeritus and assistant MC for the night, said. “The students get to show how much they love Stony Brook and Stony Brook shows how much they love them.”
