Mr. and Ms. CSU-Pueblo crowned during homecoming week festivities

The highlight of this year’s homecoming week was the Mr. and Ms. CSU-Pueblo contest held last month.

Orlando White, 22, a pre-MBA major, was crowned Mr. CSU-Pueblo and Amanda Cristelli, a 20-year-old political science major, was crowned Ms. CSU-Pueblo at the swing dance on Wednesday, Oct. 20.

Director of Alumni Relations Laura Brandt said 20 people were nominated, 12 females and eight males

“The panel is made up of the most outstanding students on campus. They deserve to be recognized,” Cristelli said.

Students could be nominated by anyone, but they had to be involved in a club or organization, have at least a 2.5 GPA and they had to have been at the university for at least two years, Brandt said.

Cristelli and White said being nominated surprised them, and they did not expect to win.

Cristelli said being chosen as Ms. CSU-Pueblo meant a lot to her because the judging was not based on something trivial like high school popularity.

The decision was made after each nominee participated in an interview with a panel of judges.

Each nominee participated in a six-minute interview with the judges.

The panel consisted of five unbiased people who were affiliated with the university in some way, Brandt said.

Brandt said the judges asked four questions. The questions dealt with the student’s pride in CSU-Pueblo, their experiences and opinions of CSU-Pueblo, their knowledge of the various administrators on campus, their knowledge of global events and one silly question.

White said `the hardest question he was asked dealt with how he would respond to someone who was talking badly about CSU-Pueblo.

Brandt said there is no right or wrong answer. The nominees were judged on how well they responded.

Brandt conducted the interviews, but she was not made aware of the who the winner was until after the judges had voted. Brandt said that she did not participate in the voting process because she knew to many of the nominees.

“All of the candidates were outstanding. They are prefect examples of the testament of CSU-Pueblo,” Brandt said.

The last day nominations were accepted was Oct 4.

Mr. and Ms. CSU-Pueblo received crowns which consisted of a wolf hat.

The crown can double as a hat or as a puppet, Brandt said.

“A lot of people would expect a crown, but the hats are unique,” Brandt said.

Brandt found the hats online last year. When she looked for them for this year’s event she found that the company that had them was out of stock.

Brandt talked with the manager of the company who was able to locate two hats from storage.

Brandt started homecoming four years ago. The Mr. and Ms. CSU-Pueblo contest has only been active for the last two years, Brandt said.

When the event was active in the 1980s there was a homecoming king, queen and a court.

“It was a nice tradition that was started. I hope it will continue,” Brandt said.

Brandt believes that homecoming will be more successful when football comes to campus in the fall. Brandt said that there will be 25 people that will have the responsibilities that she currently handles.

Brandt will leave CSU-Pueblo to attend to family issues at the end of the year.

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