2009 Homecoming King Luke Mackewich with WSU mascot "W."
by Derrick Bean
COE Public Affairs Writer
Luke Mackewich, a civil and environmental engineering senior, is happy to be your 2009 Homecoming King.
“I'm pretty excited about it,” says Mackewich. “I wasn't quite sure if I was going to win, so I'm pretty excited. It was kind of cool.”
Mackewich says he never aspired to be homecoming king. Rather, he was convinced to run by people close to him. “One of my friends actually won homecoming queen last year. And she tried to convince me, and a couple of my brothers said I should do it. They figured I knew a lot of people, so I had a decent shot.”
Not only did Mackewich have the backing of friends and loved ones, he also had a great marketing campaign. If he looks familiar, that’s because you may have seen his flyers posted around campus prior to the homecoming game, Saturday, Oct. 3.
“I actually had one of my friends come up with the idea,” Mackewich says about the flyers showing a caricature of his face. “I think it helped quite a bit. I plastered it everywhere.”
Mackewich describes the process: After you nominate yourself, an online election is held to choose the top five male and female candidates. Then, an interview is conducted by a panel of faculty, staff, and alumni. Finally, a selection is made based on five defining categories -- campus involvement, academic excellence, WSU spirit, leadership, and community involvement -- according to the 2009 Homecoming Court Rules.
Mackewich is the real deal. He is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Engineering Student Faculty Board, the Concrete Canoe team, Tau Beta Pi (the national engineering honor society) and Chi Epsilon (the national honor society for civil engineering students).
“I'm a big promoter of school spirit,” says Mackewich, who will begin studies for his master’s degree next Fall. “Chances are you'll never see me not wearing a Wayne State T-shirt. The more you promote your school, the better it makes your degree look. If you go out and say negative things, people will think less of your degree. On the other hand, if you say positive things, people will say, ‘Oh, that’s a good school. I know somebody who went there.’”
Mackewich and senior, Tara Hixson (psychology), were announced as homecoming king and queen at halftime during the homecoming football game at Tom Adams Field. “Just wave and smile,” Mackewich says. “It was nice. They have everybody walk out. The five guys and the five girls, and then they call out the winners.”
He admits to having been a little worried because one of the remaining four challengers was a former student president. Also, Mackewich felt his interview could have gone better. “I wasn’t feeling the most confident, but I guess it went well enough,” he says.
One of the interview questions was, “Why do you think you should be Homecoming King?” To which, Mackewich says: “I live and breathe Wayne State. I always promote Wayne State. What I’ve done at Wayne State demonstrates all you can do – living on campus, research, going to different games and events.”
What does a homecoming king and queen do anyway? “There's not like a formal dance,” says Mackewich whose favorite sport is football. “We go to the press box and they had free food – good food. And just pose for some pictures...It was a great game. It was an awesome game. I would’ve liked a little better defense, but we buckled down and came back from 13 down at the half. It was entertaining.”
Wayne State beat Ashland University 47-40.
Luke Mackewich's campaign for homecoming king was fueled by this flyer.
Homecoming King 2009
