It takes a week of eating pies, dressing in costumes, answering trivia questions and shooting basketball to receive the titles of Homecoming king and queen.

When the contests came to an end, Joseph Ruiz and Erica Grall of the Native American Cultural Awareness Club were crowned the 2003 Homecoming king and queen during the Oct. 25 football game.

“Maintaining a good attitude is the best thing you can do in life,” said Ruiz after his victory. “We ate 11 hot dogs and 12 chocolate pudding pies, tripped on a jump rope and put up with a lot of crap for this.”

During Homecoming week, contestants competed in several events to gain points toward the win. A combination of competition points, student votes and points from interviews created the candidates’ final score.

“As far as who designates who is king and queen, that was determined through the many competitions that we had throughout the week,” said Bethany Johnson, a member of the Homecoming committee. “It was estimated on a points system and also along with the voting for king and queen that we had on Wednesday and Thursday.

That was another factor we put into who was king and queen.”

A presentation of floats and a tribute to the ’50s from the pep band supplied the half time entertainment. Alumni cheerleaders danced and cheered all evening.

Deanna Jensen Bower, former cheerleader, returns to BC every year to cheer on the school.

Bower was a member of the BC squad in 1961 and enjoys returning to her school to experience the fun of Homecoming.

The cannon crew had a prominent position in this year’s events. John Medvigy, captain of the cannon crew, was this year’s grand marshal, and Grall, this year’s queen, is a member of the crew.

The cannon crew makes appearances at every football game, firing blasts throughout the evening.

“We had a great Homecoming,” said Medvigy. “The main people there were the cannon crew.”

Grall said that she and Ruiz decided to run for king and queen for the fun of it. In high school, Grall saw pep rallies as an excuse to sleep in.

She said she was not eager to be named queen. Now, however, she said she is happy she ran because of the new friends she made.

“I am happy and more satisfied because I did this for my own personal goals,” said Grall.

“It just happened so fast. It was a great experience though. All the candidates worked so hard.

“I don’t think there was one couple that I would say, ‘Oh, they’re better, they worked harder.’ I think every candidate worked hard and tried their best.”

Homecoming went as expected and pulled in a larger crowd than previous football games, with a total of 2,567 attendees.

“I think Homecoming went exactly how it was supposed to go,” Grall said.

“With the time limits and the money restraints that we had and the help that we had, I think it went the way it was supposed to. BC rocks!”