Seniors Drew Neillie and Shadrack Kiprono took the crowns Saturday as APU’s newest Homecoming queen and king duo.
Courtesy: Melissa Stava
At Saturday night’s Homecoming football halftime, President Jon Wallace announced APU’s new king and queen: seniors Shadrack Kiprono and Drew Neillie.
Kiprono is majoring in international business and is the first APU king from Kenya, Africa.
He said that it felt great to be the homecoming king but was surprised he won. He admitted that to some extent, it almost “felt like a joke at the beginning.”
“It is humbling to know that people value me to a point of honoring me with the crown this year,” Kiprono said. “I am so grateful to the APU student body for such a special recognition in my senior year.”
Neillie is a communication studies major and said she is from the “greatest city and state in the whole world”: Austin, Texas.
On the field at halftime, the announcer said that Neillie wants to be featured on the television show “The Bachelorette.”
“It is something that would complete my life if it ever actually happened,” Neillie said.
She said she did not expect in the slightest for her name to be called as queen.
“I feel truly honored and honestly, totally shocked,” she said.
According to senior business management major Christy Johnson, the director of communications for SGA, the nomination process is entirely up to the senior class. On Sept. 23, ballots with a complete list of all seniors were handed out during senior chapel.
“They are instructed to nominate 10 men and 10 women by circling the names on the ballots,” Johnston said.
All SGA members who are not seniors count the votes and come up with the top 10 men and top 10 women nominated by the senior class. According to Johnston, those names, along with pictures and bios sent in by the nominees, are turned in to IMT, which then creates an online voting system. All students were asked to log-in to vote via their APU homepage.
“IMT has done an incredible job being so consistent and willing to partner with the student body to get this done in an efficient and fair way,” Johnston said.
Johnston explained that every nominee always receives a lot of votes.
“There is always someone who comes out on top by a substantial difference,” she said. “It’s encouraging how many people vote for this longstanding tradition.”