The first day of homecoming week ended with Eastern’s annual Homecoming Coronation Monday in the Grand Ballroom in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

Doors opened at 7 p.m. and students were lined outside of the door eager to find their seats.

Student candidates were promoting for others to vote for them for about two weeks. Students were able to vote for the 2023 homecoming prince, princess, queen and king from Wednesday until Friday of last week.

The coronation began promptly at 7:15 with Christian Watson, a senior Spanish major with teacher licensure, and Ashley Mickens, a senior early childhood education major, thanked everyone for attending.

Nora Joseph, a freshman English major, ran for homecoming princess due to her trying to break out of her comfort zone.

“I told myself when I got to college, I would put myself out there at least once,” Jones said.

She did not realize how many people would be in attendance and was a little nervous about that.

Initially she was not too worried about losing since she mainly just wanted to get her name out, but after she saw the princess crown, she kind of wanted to win, but her main goal was just putting her name out and building connections with people.

Ashaureah Reed, a junior fashion merchandising and design major, attended the event for two reasons. One of the reasons being that she works for Eastern’s University Board and was volunteering to help. Her other reason was in support of her friend Nicholas Trimble.

This was Reed’s first time helping the University Board set up.

Reed also finds homecoming week the “most exciting time of the year.”

“It’s a lot of fun activities that’s outside the box and people think about new stuff every year,” Reed said. “It amazes me, all the new stuff that they think about every year.”

There were numerous nominees for both the prince and princesses.

Every candidate was courted and applauded for when their name was called. All of the candidates dressed elegantly and stood on stage in anticipation for their name to be called.

The time came for the prince and princess to be announced.

After all the nominees were announced, there was a drumroll preceding the announcement of the homecoming prince.

After a suspenseful pause, Sheldon Turner, a sophomore accounting major was announced the prince.

Turner represented the Zeta Nu chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc.

Turner said it was a “blessing” to be able to win.

“Kudos to all the candidates and everyone,” Turner said. “This is something new, this is a new experience to me. It’s something I didn’t do in high school, so to really get myself out there, it’s a blessing.”

Turner said it was a part of his fraternity’s tradition for the “Neos” or the newest inductees to run for homecoming court.

Turner said his courageous spirit allowed him to be victorious in winning homecoming prince, as well as his willingness to make a change to Eastern.

After another suspenseful pause, the 2023 homecoming princess was announced to be Rochelle Carter, a sophomore nursing major.

Carter said she was joyful and very happy to win.

Her being nice to others and using her resources allowed her to be victorious in the homecoming court.

“I’m a [resident assistant], (RA), so just making sure that the other RA’s are on my side, and having their residents vote for me,” Carter said.

Carter also said that she greeted people and asked for their vote.

She said that she ran to be the face of the community.

“I want people to know who I am, so now they do,” Carter said.

The time came for the king and queen to be announced.

After a drum roll, and a suspenseful pause, Nicholas Trimble, a senior psychology major was announced as the 2023 homecoming king.

Trimble said winning felt “great, nothing short of amazing. I appreciate everyone who voted, [I] appreciate everyone, all the judges looking over my application. I appreciate all the other candidates that enrolled and got up there and represent EIU. I really appreciate that.”

Last year’s homecoming king was Nile Hill, a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., an organization that both Trimble and Turner are a part of.

Trimble said it felt great to have both of his brothers be a part of the homecoming run, but said it is not anything out of the ordinary.

“Previous Alpha’s have had a history of winning homecoming king, and so for me to win the crown was just another thing that was added to the legacy or the tradition, but it feels really great to know that the campus really interacts with us,” Trimble said.

Lastly, the homecoming queen was announced, and the name that was read was Hannah Lawrence, a junior nursing major.

Lawrence said the feeling was “surreal.”

She wanted to represent the Black Student Union and felt amazing and grateful to win and have the crown.

To increase her chances of winning, Lawrence said she gave cookies and candy during the week. She also had promoted herself on social media. Her being known on campus created an urge for her to run.

Her peers encouraged her to run but she was indecisive because she is a junior and is also busy with school. She said a lot of people cheered her on to run and she did.

After she was announced, the crowd chanted her name, and all the winners took photos together.

Cam’ron Hardy can be reached at 581-2812 or at [email protected].