During the halftime show of the Southeastern Lions Homecoming match against McNeese, Christopher McKinley and Jenee Ratelle took their places as the 2010 Homecoming King and Queen.
McKinley, an organizational communications junior, was elected beau of the Black Student Union, of which he is member. He is also a member of the Southeastern Student Foundation Board, the NAACP and the workshop co-director of Project Promoting Unity through Leadership & Learning (PULL), a student mentoring organization.
After McKinley was presented the crown by former King Anthony “A.J.” Calderone, he could hardly contain his excitement.
“It’s unbelievable,” said McKinley. “It’s definitely unreal. Out of all the students in the university, they voted for me. I really appreciate it, and I am eternally grateful.”
Marketing senior Ratelle is a member of Alpha Omicron Pi, Gamma Beta Phi, the American Marketing Association, Campus Outreach, Excel Leadership and the Order of Omega Athletic Advisory Committee. She was the Greek Woman of the Year in 2009, received the Alpha Omicron Pi Ruby “A” Award and was a Foundation Leadership Scholarship recipient.
Like McKinley, she could scarcely contain her excitement.
“I can’t stop shaking! This is just such an honor, I think that this is just an incredible thing,” said Ratelle. “I’m so proud to be a Lion’s fan. Just that people would support me in this way, It’s just so great that people think that this was something that I deserved.”
As instructed by the Student Government Association, Homecoming campaigns became strictly verbal with little use of electronic communication. This change was made to better connect students with their candidates. According to McKinley and Ratelle, this change only added to their experience.
“It was great! I’ve gotten really involved here on campus and have gotten to know a lot of people here on campus,” said Ratelle. “This year the campaigns were only word of mouth and electronic communication, so I just wanted to get the word out to everyone that I knew that I was running and if they thought I was a good candidate to help me with that vote.”
McKinley shared her enthusiasm.
“I lost my voice campaigning,” said McKinley. “I got to know so many different people because we had to verbally campaign. I think that made it a better experience.”
Homecoming Queen of 2009, Marjorie Parker, wished to share some of her advice with the newly crowned King and Queen.
“Stay grounded, positive and humble,” said Parker. “It’s a lot of fun, but you are now a role model at Southeastern.”