The Homecoming King and Queen Contest was held on Thursday evening at a partially filled SAC Auditorium. Opened by an impromptu haiku by the event’s master of ceremonies, Ali Mehrabian, the contest was filled with many laughs and cheers from the audience and contestants alike. ‘Stony’s stones are rockin.’ And the Brook’s waves are rollin’,’ proclaimed Mehrabian, last year’s homecoming king, in a celebratory comment about this year’s homecoming theme of Rock and Roll and SB’s ‘Red Hot’ 50th anniversary. The contest consisted of a question and answer segment followed by a talent show of sorts aptly named a ‘creative explosion.’ Three questions were asked to each of the contestants. The questions, according to one of the judges, fell into three general categories and were decided upon by a homecoming committee prior to the contest. The contestants would be asked a deep question, a creative question and a fun question. The ‘creative explosion,’ was their opportunity to express their personality to the judges and to the audience. Seated at the judges table were SB staffers from various academic advising and student life posts as well as a member of the USG. Cheryl Hamilton, Jonathon Hirst, Mary Beth Powers, Antoni Ferrantino and Julissa Fernandez all took turns asking the contestants questions and judging the quality of their performances as part of the contest. The winners of the contest were decided by 6 votes. Each of the judges contributed one vote to the final decision. The audience collectively counted for the last vote. At the entrance, each audience member was given a pink ballot slip with the contestants’ names to submit at the end of the competition. ‘We judge the students on the consistency and delivery of their answers, the creative explosion as well as their overall presentation,’ said Powers. ‘The homecoming king and queen should be able to serve as university ambassadors.’ When asked about the anticipated winners of the contest, Jerrold Stein, dean of students, jovially seated at the front of the audience said, ‘It’s a difficult choice. I know many of these contestants and they’re all good students.’ He continued, ‘the Homecoming Court has been a Stony Brook tradition for 31 years. This is a great event for student involvement.’ ‘I’d like to see the contestants asked about one thing they would change at Stony Brook,’ said Kavita Bommasamudram, sophomore undergraduate before the contest began. ‘I hope they say they want to make the weekends more interesting here,’ added Jorel Medayid, sophomore undergraduate. This year’s candidates came from diverse disciplines and backgrounds. Competing for the title of homecoming queen were Courtney Briggs, Charmaine Alicia Cole, Aparna Kadam, Patricia Ng and Chinelo Onochie. Likewise, competing for the title of homecoming king were students Patrick Fama, David-Georges Renauel, Navneet Singh, Edgar Suarez and Christopher Tricarico. After a brief, awkward pause and ‘Excuse me?’ to the stage crew from the crowd entertaining Mehrabian, the contest was underway. ‘I’m just trying to keep things rolling,’ he quipped. Individually invited on stage by the mispronouncing MC, Mehrabian asked each candidate two questions while the last question came from the judges’ table. ‘Why should you be chosen as homecoming king or queen?’ was the first question Mehrabian asked. Most of the candidates spoke about their SB pride and what it means for them to ‘be a seawolf.’ Some students also commented on their experiences getting involved on campus and becoming student leaders. ‘My character embodies school spirit and SB’s progressive attitude,’ answered Kadam. ‘My contributions as an original Red Hot Marching Band member and academic prowess as a BME student show my dedication to the progression of school pride,’ she continued. In commemoration of SB’s 50th anniversary the second question from Mehrabian was, ‘What tradition would you like to see at SB fifty years from now?’ Briggs and Kadam, suggested graduation ceremony gowns that reflected the school’s colors. To this second question, Fama suggested that the zebra path be repainted and rejuvenated every year in school tradition. Ng wanted a traditional SB athletic cheer, like those of Penn State and Duke University, that would become synonymous with SB pride. She even enlisted the crowd’s support while suggesting her own catchy cheer: ‘Wolf, there it is!’ Tricarico wanted a homecoming-like event at SB every month in 50 years in order to boost student involvement on campus. ‘I want something like this,’ he answered, ‘every month or so.’ One of the more entertaining answers of the evening came from Onochie who suggested that in 50 years SB have a traditional ‘Career Day’ where students enter campus and attend class dressed as members of the future profession of their choice. This Halloween-like event, according to Onochie, would ‘motivate students to think about their futures.’ The last ‘deep’ question came from the judges and was different for each contestant. The questions all pertained, however, to the essays the contestants submitted as part of their applications to be part of the homecoming court. The contestants were mostly asked about how their experiences at SB shaped their characters and future goals. To close the contest was the ‘creative explosion,’ where the contestants all performed for the judges and audience in an effort, according to Mehrabian, to demonstrate ‘what creativity has brought to the table.’ Most of the contestants performed some variation of a song or dance routine. Edgar Suarez, with the help of a few friends, performed a Brazilian martial arts dance called capoeira. To the beat of a large congo drum and the chants of a dance-mate, Suarez and his partners participated in an improvised dancing and fighting demonstration. Renauel performed a number of iconic dance styles of decades past with two partners as a ‘tribute to 50 years of SB.’ With ease, he demonstrated everything from Saturday Night Fever to modern hip hop. Briggs performed a modern ballet routine. Kadam demonstrated a ballroom dance routine. Singh, similarly, performed a ballroom dance style routine but finished off with some lively Indian bhangra. Cole performed a rendition of Tina Turner’s ‘Proud Mary.’ Ng also, providing the audience with another singing and dancing routine, enlisted the aid of some of her SBVAC crewmates. Her routine focused on SB’s ‘Red Hot’ theme and her own personal catchphrase, ‘Pattylicious!’ A few notable exceptions however, were the performances of Onochie, Fama, and Tricarico. Onochie passionately read a poem chronicling her personal transformation at SB while physically changing her dress from geek-wear to popular-wear. Fama performed a witty baseball skit making facetious wordplay of the basemen’s names. Finally, Tricarico performed a ventriloquist act where he impersonated, among others, Kermit the Frog, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jack Sparrow and Steve Irwin. Mehrabian closed the event by announcing that that the winners of the evening’s contest would be revealed at the football game against Maine. As students left, they placed their pink ballots to enter their votes in boxes left at the exits.