At the annual homecoming football game on Saturday, Oct. 5, John Carroll Student Union Programming Board members crowned three winners of the Homecoming Court. The winners were Carolyn Sicurella, John Garmon and Colby Fritsch.

The crowning occurred before the action-packed game where the Blue Streaks faced the Muskingum Fighting Muskies.

For this year’s homecoming royalty, there were three winners instead of two. Additionally, the winners were non-gendered, so three JCU seniors were voted winners by their classmates. This is a shift from the traditional Homecoming King and Queen, which have always been a male and female student.

Student Union Programming Board President Eddie Jenkins explained the reasoning for the shift: “The last Exec Board implemented that change. However, I think a big part of that was just inclusivity,” Jenkins said. “It’s something that is essential for meeting our objective of being both diverse and inclusive, especially the inclusivity part.”

Jenkins noted how, in addition to being more inclusive, the switch came with unexpected benefits. “For instance, John Garmon and I are both in Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity. Traditionally, both being on Homecoming Court, all of our brothers would have had to decide who they were voting for. This year, that wasn’t the case. They were able to vote for both of us,” Jenkins said. “This wasn’t even something that we considered when we implemented this change, but it’s definitely a very positive feature.”

Jenkins also explained that the administration has been mostly supportive of the change. “It’s definitely something that the Office of Student Engagement has been supportive of. Dr. McCarthy has stated his support overall,” continued Jenkins. “I mean, it’s a change that has been pretty uncontested.”

However, John Carroll’s official Instagram page, @johncarrollu, failed to post the Homecoming Court Winners on their feed, despite having posted the winners for the past two years.