Homecoming Week 2020 came to an end with the announcement of the 2020 Homecoming King and Queen.

Darnell Butler Jr., senior management major, was crowned Homecoming King and Destiny Richardson, junior art major, was crowned Homecoming Queen.

Richardson shared her initial reaction to hearing her name being called. 

“It was, ‘Oh my goodness, I can’t believe this,’” said Richardson. “That’s all I could think.”

Butler also shared his initial reaction to the announcement. 

“It’s an extreme honor,” said Butler. “I just feel so humbled knowing that all my hard work didn’t go to waste. It was a long week campaigning and going to all the Homecoming court events, so it’s really a blessing to be in this position. I’m glad I can represent the university.”

In the upcoming year, Richardson hopes to help students feel included in school activities during her reign as Homecoming Queen.

“This next year, just making sure that I’m still going to events like I usually do, wearing my green and gold, having school spirit and definitely just making sure that everyone feels as included in activities as possible,” expressed Richardson. 

Butler shared how his position as Homecoming King will help him to serve the university in addition to his current role as vice president of the Student Government Association.

“I feel that it will add on just being that I’m someone who can interact with the students, show up and just be interactive and be engaging. That’s been my whole mission as SGA vice president, just being a voice for the students and representing them to the best of my ability. Being that person that’s going to advocate for them and do things on their behalf. That’s what I’ve been working towards since being SGA president, and now that I’m king I can do that even more.”

Richardson mentioned that her favorite part of Homecoming was the parade, even if it was different from past years, because she saw how others expressed their Lion pride. 

“My favorite event was definitely the parade,” shared Richardson. “It was nice to see everyone still had the Homecoming spirit while doing things differently with COVID, but seeing everyone still come and have that pride, it’s definitely a very fun and exciting thing to do.”