At 6:18 p.m. Monday, senior communication major Andrew Bonsu was crowned Homecoming King and senior communication major Collette Walton became Homecoming Queen. Both were endorsed by the NAACP organization.

“I feel so good right now,” Bonsu said after being crowned.

There were 858 votes cast, said Sheryl Rodriguez, CAB coordinator for the Homecoming Coronation.

The 10 Homecoming Court contestants were walked from the Holmes Student Center to King Memorial Commons, blindfolded and holding roses with music blasting from three speakers. At the signal of last year’s Homecoming King Kiarri Andrews, a senior broadcast journalism major, the contestants removed their blindfolds and were directed to check the color of their roses. A red rose meant they lost and a white one meant victory.

“Wow,” was all Walton could say after she was crowned Homecoming Queen. She also was a little disorientated.

“Being walked down here blindfolded made me really dizzy,” she said.

Once she gained her balance, Walton said she had many things she wanted to achieve as Homecoming Queen.

“I want to create more diversity programs at NIU. I think a lot of different groups are separated at NIU because students don’t know about other groups,” she said.

Bonsu hopes to be a positive influence on NIU students.

“I plan to represent NIU to the fullest,” he said.

Last year’s Homecoming Queen and King, Delta Sigma Theta president Jarquetta Egeston and Andrews, crowned the new members of the Homecoming Court.

“I really, really did not want to give up my title as Homecoming King,” Andrews said. “It’s been such an amazing year for me, so I’ll be sad that I’ll no longer be the Homecoming King.”

Egeston hopes the Homecoming Court will have more structure this year.

“Kiarri [Andrews] and I were involved in a lot of activities last year, but there was really no structure for our position. We’re working on bringing more requirements and structure in the Homecoming Court,” she said.

Lindsey Walt, a sophomore elementary education major, hoped Jami Lynn Weiss and Henry Handler, a sophomore pre-early childhood studies major and senior computer science major respectively – both members of the Alpha Phi Omega co-ed service fraternity – would win.

“They should have won because Alpha Phi Omega is the best. They exude such confidence,” she said.

Junior business major Shannon Wapole hoped junior accountancy major Jennifer Nowak of the Delta Gamma sorority and senior marketing major Jeremy Manning of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity would win.

“They are both very involved in NIU, and they would be good representatives of the student population,” Wapole said.

Contestants were required to have sponsors to verify their involvement in NIU activities, Rodriguez said.