Homecoming reunites the old and new

Having a king and queen of an event is nothing new for society. The king and queen of the ball, of the fair and of homecoming are all familiar titles. At Southeast Missouri State University, this role is filled by Man and Woman of the Year.

While the title of Man of the Year was not established until the late '70s, Woman of the Year has been around since the early '20s. According to yearbooks in Alumni Service's online archives, the Queen of Sagamore was first crowned around 1923. Sagamore was the name of Southeast's former yearbook. Along with Queen of Sagamore, Southeast crowned queens of sports and other activities in its yearbook. Over the years the title has changed from Queen of Sagamore, to Homecoming Queen and most recently Woman of the Year.

According to the 1977 Sagamore, Southeast's first Man of the Year was crowned during homecoming week of 1976. Three years later, Mike Tindall would be crowned Southeast's Man of the Year for 1979. "I felt very honored," Tindall said. "I think to get to come back my senior year and crown the new [Man of the Year] was a great opportunity. I felt very honored to do that and represent the school."

Tindall now resides in his hometown of Chester, Ill. and works as a buyer for Gilster-Mary Lee Corporation.

Tindall said the process of winning the title was tough.

"I was nominated by the football team," Tindall said. "Then we interviewed to be selected as finalists, and the students voted to pick the winner."

Since Tindall's Man of the Year experience, the process of being selected as Man or Woman of the Year finalist has not changed much.

Homecoming Selections Chair Jacquelyn Beattie, a Southeast sophomore, started the selection process with nominations coming from different organizations across campus. The nominations were due on Sept. 23. An all-male organization nominates a male for Man of the Year and an all-female organization may nominate a female for Woman of the Year. A co-ed organization may nominate a candidate for both categories.

Beattie said the nominees' academic records are then researched. Each nominee must hold at least a 3.0 overall GPA, be in good academic standing and have completed more than 60 credit hours.

Beattie then schedules a 15 minute interview for each of the 24 candidates with a panel of judges.

"We use between three to five judges," Beattie said. "This year we used five from all parts of campus including Residence Life, the international studies department and the science department."

After the interviews, the judges select five finalists for both the men and the women. Students then vote for one man and one woman via Southeast's portal.

Voting closed Oct. 18 and the Man and Woman of the Year will be announced during halftime of the homecoming football game at 1 p.m. Oct. 22.