Ohio University's Black Student Cultural Programming Board will host its 33rd annual Homecoming Coronation tomorrow night to raise money for the Blackburn/Spencer Scholarship Program. This year, BSCPB worked directly with the University Program Council to plan the event, as well as other homecoming events.
This year
(the university) was looking for ... more collaboration between student organizations to plan homecoming Robin Gillespie, the president of UPC, said. The UPC parade and the BSCPB Coronation are two really big events on Saturday so they asked us to ... make them more collaborative this year.
UPC has helped to advertise and plan the Coronation, and BSCPB helped make the parade banner, will walk in the parade with UPC members and helped give out free coffee and hot chocolate, added Gillespie.
A UPC member will also co-emcee the Coronation, and UPC has helped sell tickets, which are $20 for a single ticket, $35 per couple and $140 for a table. Ticket sale revenue primarily pays for food and other costs, but leftover money goes toward the scholarship.
The Coronation will include live music, a formal dinner, a pageant and an after-party.
The nine pageant contestants, sponsored by other OU student organizations, raised money for the scholarship and will perform skits or dances, answer questions and be evaluated on a point system by judges, said Leah Ward, the special events co-coordinator for BSCPB and a junior studying education.
This is a way for the Coronation to raise money and show off their work
Ward said, adding that the pageant is not about talent or prizes but rather a way to make the fundraiser fun. This way the university sees that these students have really taken time out of their schedules ... to help other students out with the scholarship
Ward said.
BSCPB invites all students and faculty to attend the event, but the Coronation is still reputed on campus as being primarily for African-American students, Gillespie said.
I think the problem is that many people might not know if they can participate ... because the scholarship is for a minority student
so it's a specialized interest
Gillespie said, adding that UPC's involvement might help to change this reputation in the future.
Ward also said that UPC's involvement will help, and all students have always been welcome, but the event began to fund the scholarship because minorities were underrepresented.
The event will be bigger as time goes on
but the tradition will stay
Ward said.
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