Pedro, Princess and others perform for votes

Pedro%2C+Princess+and+others+perform+for+votes

SHELBY WELSCH, Staff Writer

Panther Princesses, prancing and pop songs.

These were a few things that the Homecoming court showcased in the Maucker Union Ballroom Tuesday for the talent portion of the election.

The queen candidates included: senior elementary education major Alicia Hornfeck, senior communications major Molly Norman, senior communications and public relations major Natalie Rork, senior art major Emily Thompson and junior accounting major Camryn Wrage. The king candidates were: sophomore marketing major Jamal White, senior management major Kantinka Kyerementeng, senior biology education major Bobby Orman, sophomore leisure, youth and human services major Kody Gafkjen and senior communication and public relations major Archie Hardin.

The event began with a Q&A, including questions like: ‘What would you like to see more of at UNI?,’ ‘What makes you proud to be a Panther?,’ or ‘What is your favorite fairytale theme song and why?’

Many of the questions reflected the homecoming theme of “Once Upon a time.”

Each participant then had three minutes to show off in a talent in he talent portion of the event.

First was Hornfeck. She sang and danced to an original song set to the tune of the “Fresh Prince of Bel Air” theme. The lyrics involved her desire to get the the homecoming crown and the Panther pride she possesses.

Next, Gafkjen performed his version of the “Vote for Pedro” dance from the movie “Napoleon Dynamite.” The audience responded to his dance with smiles and laughter.

“Kody was so good, he made me want to vote for Pedro,” said sophomore psychology major, Spencer Westhoff.

Next in the show was Norman, performing a comedy skit on how she was a “Panther princess.” Hardin also went the comedic route with a skit. According to early childhood education major, Daniele Calcagno, both routines were hilarious.

“I thought the comedy routines were so funny,” Calcagno said. “They had the whole audience cracking up.”

Rork followed Hardin’s performance, leading an audience-wide Zumba dance. Though space was tight, everybody got up and modeled Rork’s moves. Kyerementeng also danced for his act, dancing to a mashup of African, hip-hop and pop music.

Thompson played a mashup of Taylor Swift’s “White Dress” on the piano, with students in the audience singing along with the piano.

Orman’s talent involved performing different magic tricks. He picked a random person from the audience and attempted to ‘woo’ them by making a flower appear out of his sleeve, which he then followed with a card trick.

Following Orman’s mini magic show was Wrage. She painted a solar system on a canvas in under two minutes. The last act of the night consisted of White lip-syncing and dancing to the song, “Closer” by Ne-Yo and, “Girlfriend” by Justin Bieber.

After each candidate had performed, the audience got to vote for the two people they thought most deserved to represent UNI as the 2015 Homecoming Royalty. The winners will be announced on Friday at 8 p.m. during the Pep Rally in the McLeod Center. The winners of the competition will also be presented during the homecoming halftime game on Saturday night.