By Nova Moore
It is a unique privilege to have the job of going through decades of photographs and negatives to find almost 75-years-worth of images of Homecoming representatives at Central Michigan University. And now anyone can look at image of past Homecoming representatives on the Clarke's website. While we may not know each individual personally, or what their thoughts were while receiving this honorable distinction, all of the Homecoming royalty made an undeniable impact here at Central. Each representative stood for something different on campus, and their dedication to their community came in a multitude of different means. Whyever their peers selected them for this honor, these students were nominated to be representatives of their student body for a reason.
Originally, the role was a single Homecoming Queen and her court, then, it became a Queen and King, and finally, the Homecoming royalty became the Maroon and Gold Ambassadors. Each year, these students demonstrated an important quality that the student body felt they needed to see during their time at Central Michigan. Such as with Jean “Scotty” Chisholm, the first Central Michigan University Homecoming Queen crowned in 1946, who was the representative of a struggling student body merely 7 years after the end of the Great Depression. The petition for Scotty to be queen was unassailable, with a previous class presidentship showing that she truly spoke for the student body. About 25 years later, we see when students demanded social justice on campus and Connie Wilson became the first African American Homecoming Queen at Central Michigan University. She was nominated for her, “Black Pride,” 8 years after federal law demanded the end of segregation in America, but still years before the effects of the law were actually felt. And who can forget the tradition of Elvira Scratch, the unofficial Homecoming Queen candidate that was really a male student dressed in costume, who ran year after year from 1958 until 1982 when the first Homecoming King, John Nader, was crowned.
The photos of these Homecoming representatives may not give the full story of our dedicated alumni, but they do provide a jumping-off point for students who attend Central Michigan University now to learn about times past. Hopefully, these pictures will inspire current students to read up on the history of our great ambassadors, and they, themselves, can aspire to be agents of change here on campus. These pictures also serve as a blast to the past for alumni who wish to remember, nostalgically, their times here at Central. The addition of this page accomplishes these goals and more, and we are delighted to open up this online gallery to all those who are a part of the Central Michigan University community.
