talents on display in hopes of becoming
one of the final three in the student center
ballroom on Wednesday night. Photo by William Craine.
From martial arts performance to guacamole making, the homecoming pageant on Wednesday was nothing short of remarkable. With 10 contestants and an enthusiastic and supportive audience, the pageant allowed Bradley’s Homecoming court to compete and show off their unique skills in order to win over the hearts of the students and judges.
“We [put together] an application process that [potential contestants] fill out and it’s probably about 10 to 15 questions [regarding] Bradley memories, Bradley information and just getting to know a little bit more about the contestants,” Olivia Schoenfeldt said.
Schoenfeldt, a senior marketing major, co-coordinated the homecoming pageant alongside Jake McGiles. In order to narrow the ten contestants down to the top six for homecoming king and queen of 2018, three rounds of performances and questions took place.
“It’s going to be a tough decision,” Judge Lieutenant Savage said.
Round one involved the unique talents that each contestant had to offer. Contestants Austin Shone, Lizzy Young, Mikki Tran, Jamal Stevenson and Claire Sullivan performed more traditional routines like standup comedy, spoken word, rap and singing.
Other students had a different approach to their talent.
Claudio DeBon performed a martial arts routine, Megan Ramsden tempted the audience to try her homemade guacamole, Camryn Kirkham performed an explosive chemistry experiment, Jake Buchnat sang every country on the planet, and Pierre Paul performed some of his improvised A capella.
By the end of the first round, it was clear that the choice for king and queen wasn’t going to be an easy one.
“I really enjoyed every single act that was presented tonight,” said senior graphic design major Ann Schnabel.
The second round of the pageant involved fishbowl questions, where contestants randomly picked a slip of paper containing a question from a bowl and had to answer on the spot. Questions ranged from “Where do you see yourself in 10 years?” to “If you could make your own Crayola color, what would it be and why?”
The third round left the audience full of laughter and applause as contestants strutted on the stage in Bradley swag ranging from Bradley t-shirts and socks to Bradley capes and wigs in the third and final round dubbed “Spiritwear”.
As the noise simmered down, students as well as the panel of judges were given the opportunity to vote for their three potential kings and three potential queens via Bradley’s B Involved app or through the ACBU Facebook page.
After Wednesday’s events, the six finalists are: Claudia DeBon, Camryn Kirkham, Pierre Paul, Claire Sullivan, Jamal Stevenson and Megan Ramsden. Only time and students’ votes will tell who the king and queen of Bradley University’s 2018 homecoming will be.
Homecoming king and queen will be crowned at 7:00 p.m. at halftime of Saturday’s homecoming soccer game.
