Kent State Homecoming takes place this Saturday, September 21 and there are a lot of activities going on that day, starting with the Homecoming parade at 11 a.m. Lots of Kent State organizations and clubs on campus will be walking the parade route, including the Kent State 2019 Homecoming Court. However, there’s a new change to the court starting this year.

“This year we’re changing the game. There’s going to be two royalty representatives being chosen instead of a king and a queen” said Kent State 2019 Homecoming Court representative, Haylee Holt.

“So traditionally for the Homecoming Court on the Kent campus we always have 12 candidates that represent the court and in the past that’s usually been 6 males and 6 females running for either king or queen of the court. It’s been a trend nationally to kind of switch that over to either royalty or some non-gender specific pronouns,” said Katie Goldring, associate director of the Center for Student Involvement.

This year there are 10 female representatives and two male representatives on the court and of those 12, any two people can be named Kent State Royalty.

“I think Kent State already does a great job of making everybody feel included in events, in academics and sports and everything that we have to offer, and I think this is just one more layer of really offering an opportunity for everybody to feel comfortable participating,” Goldring said.

Goldring added the Center for Student Involvement’s goal is to “to make sure that everybody feels like they have an opportunity to participate in Homecoming, that they apply to these court positions, so they represent Kent State as best as they can and it doesn’t necessarily have to fit into a box.”

Holt said she’s excited to be on this year’s court and commends them for their efforts in ending gender roles.

“To me, inclusion means breaking down the constructive barriers within a society and making sure everybody, despite their diversity, feels accepted, welcomed, heard, and appreciated.”

We’ll see who kind of raises to the top on Saturday, but they’re all wonderful students who have done a great job at really representing the university in a positive way.”

Undergraduate students can vote for this year’s Homecoming Court by logging onto their Flashline. For more information on the Homecoming Court and all of this year’s activities, visit the link: https://www.kent.edu/homecoming

Contact Maria DeBone at [email protected].