Leadership, involvement, interest in school and a desire to give back– these are all qualities, according to Vice President of The Dining Hall organization Somalia Pumphrey, that will ideally be found  in the first Mr. and Mrs. IUS.

The idea came to The Dining Hall (also called TDH) when the group was invited by the Chancellor to take part in this year’s Homecoming. Pumphrey said she had seen similar events at campuses such as Eastern Kentucky University and University, and thought it would be a big step for IU Southeast.

Anthony Richmond, social chair of TDH, said the Mr. and Mrs. IUS competition is another way that their organization aims to get students more involved on campus.

“It’s minor this year, and a lot of people will still take it as such, but we plan on making it progress each year,” said Richmond.

Though Richmond and Pumphrey both said the competition was aimed at attracting a diverse group of competitors, there were standards that had to be met to be in the running. Competitors must be traditional students, have a 2.5 GPA or higher, and must be at least a second year student.

“We made the criteria pretty general. It wasn’t anything too hard that would seclude a lot of people. We wanted to make sure that everyone had a chance and was able to get a lot of votes,” said Richmond.

An application to run asked about involvement on campus, as well as any volunteer work and leadership qualities, as well as GPA.

“That’s about it for the first stage of the running. You turn in your application, and you have to campaign yourself and let people know, this is who I am, go vote for me,” said Pumphrey.

Though campaigning was largely on the applicant themselves, each student was able to contact an organization on campus and request assistance in campaigning as a sort of sponsorship.

“We were really excited to see people taking it seriously and actually going out and getting the word out,” said Richmond.

Ballots for round one of the competition are available until Thursday, Feb. 5 in the Commons Area. Students may choose their favorite girl and boy from a list of about 15 students. The top six candidates will be announced at the Crimson and Cream dance, an event hosted by TDH and Sigma Kappa. The formal dance will be held at Woodland Lodge on Feb. 12 from 8p.m. to 11.

The top six candidates (3 boys and 3 girls) will then, for the next round of the competition, have to answer a round of questions in front of a panel of five judges in a sort of pageant-like atmosphere.

“We make sure we have a judge from every different sort of branch or organization on campus, that way it’s sort of spread out,” said Richmond.

After the candidates complete their interview, the judges will agree upon one girl and one boy to be crowned Mr. and Mrs. IUS during halftime of the Homecoming game.

Hayleigh Ell, general studies senior, is in the running to become Mrs. IUS. Ell is a member of both Sigma Kappa and the Student Program Council, and said each club was notified by TDH of the competition. Her interest was immediately sparked.

Ell said she entered the competition because she sees herself as a relatable student, a quality she sees as a necessity for Mrs. IUS. “I don’t think it should be a popularity vote. I don’t think it should be one of those things where only the popular girl who is super pretty and has a lot of friends wins. It should be someone who can relate to as many students as possible,” said Ell.

Ell said she didn’t do a lot of campaigning, but rather got her name out mostly through word of mouth.

“I was a cheerleader on the National’s team in 2013, I was part of the advertising program, and I’m a transfer student. I think I’m a relatable student because I’ve kind of been through everything,” said Ell. She said she hopes her experiences on campus will help her throughout the competition.

The Homecoming game will be held Feb. 14 at 2 p.m. and will be against Asbury University.

“We hope this has a good turnout and it’s something people will be interested in for years to come,” said Pumphrey.