The Whitworthian

Issue date: 10/9/07 Last Updated: 10/8/07

Most people would consider themselves lucky to even be considered for Homecoming royalty; winning would be especially exciting, and being nominated twice would be nothing less than impressive.

Theology and philosophy instructor Moses Pulei is impressive because not only has he done that, but he won both times he was nominated.

Now teaching at Whitworth, Pulei came to Washington from Kenya in 1993. He was nominated for Homecoming royalty as a freshman, when he lived in Arend. To him the whole thing was a joke.

"I wasn't even on campus; I was in Seattle for a track meet, and they told me and I had no idea what was going on," Pulei said.

He had only been in the United States for about two months, and had no idea what Homecoming was.

"After the told me, I said 'who's coming home?' because that's what I thought it was," he said.

Whitworth Homecomings have changed since Pulei was a student here. Instead of having various contests every day at lunch, each dorm worked on a float that was driven around the football field the night of the game.

The Homecoming football game wasn't a big deal because at that time the football team wasn't very good, he said.

"They won maybe two or three games the four years I went to school," Pulei said.

He didn't even go to the football game, because of their bad reputation.

"I went to the dance, but I didn't bring a date the first year. The second year I did, but the homecoming queen hated the whole thing too. It was very silly," Pulei said.

The most important thing about homecoming was the unity of the dorms and the whole campus, Pulei said.

"Everyone comes together and shows spirit for their dorm, you get to see the traditions of every dorm. I think [Homecoming] is more important for the dorm than the individual," Pulei said.

The second time Pulei was nominated he wasn't excited about it.

"They did it to spite me," he said.

He put on a good face, but told everyone that he thought being nominated was something that should only happen once. He felt that a freshman should be nominated instead.

"The freshmen get more connected to campus," he said.

Although things have changed since he was a student, Pulei said the most important thing is still the unity that comes from Homecoming.

Contact Caitlin Richmond at caitlin.richmond@whitworthian.com.

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