Laura Vollmer

Age: 21

Major: pharmacy

Hometown: Eden Prairie, Minn.

Activities: Assistant Residence Hall Coordinator of Herriott Hall, Phi Delta Chi Pharmacy Fraternity, Dean’s Student Advisory Council Class Representative, American Health Systems Pharmacists, Bulldog Swing Society-Drake University, Student research with faculty, D-PREP Mentorship, Up Til’ Dawn, Mortar Board, DRxUGS, National Residence Hall Honorary, HyVee Pharmacy intern

What homecoming means to you: Homecoming, to me, is a time for many individuals to come together and to share Bulldog pride for our school! It is a tradition which others have celebrated for many years. Overall, I feel this week unifies us through various activities in order to celebrate what Drake means to us all! I am honored to represent our student body during this great tradition.

Dominic Johnson

Age: 22

Major: marketing and advertising – account management

Hometown: Eden Prairie, Minn.

Activities: Member of Alpha Kappa Psi professional fraternity, The Times-Delphic, American Marketing Association, Adams Academy, former Drake Athletics intern, Intramurals, took second place in “Drake’s Got Talent” my sophomore year for my standup comedy routine (let’s not talk about my junior year performance. Yikes.).

What Homecoming means to you: At most schools, especially the big state schools, Homecoming is all about rallying behind the football team and getting excited for one of the biggest games of the year. Unfortunately, there isn’t too much rallying behind the football team at Drake, but I see Homecoming Week as a way to try and reverse that trend. (I’d like to give a shout out to the first-year students though, because they came out in huge numbers for Drake’s home opener against Grand View.) I, for one, would love to see more students at Drake football games, so seeing all these people putting in a tremendous effort to make Homecoming Week something special is great. I mean, our football team is the defending Pioneer Football League co-champs and their only two losses have come against teams in the Football Championship Subdivision, which is a league above them. Heck, they stuck right with Montana State until the very end, and that team was nationally ranked in its division!

James Ley

Age: 21

Major: biochemistry, cell and molecular biology

Hometown: St. Louis, Miss.

Activities: lax, SIFE, CBS, mercy, senate

What homecoming means to you: I’m going to run with the cliche response. Until this year, homecoming was my time to enjoy a wide variety of events that offered a refreshing spin to a Drake tradition. However, homecoming has transformed into my first reminder that time at Drake is soon over. A reminder to celebrate what we’ve accomplished over the course of three years, make a few more memories, and most importantly, to cherish the last few weeks of decent weather.

Kevin Betthauser

Age: 21

Major: pharmacy

Hometown: Tomah, Wis.

Activities: President of Phi Gamma Delta (FIJI), member of APhA-ASP and DRxUGS, Intramurals, assistant varsity wrestling coach at Des Moines North-Hoover, youth wrestling head coach/Program Director for Des Moines North-Hoover, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, American Diabetes Association, and Habitat for Humanity.

What homecoming means to you: Homecoming is a time for all students to celebrate and support Drake, and to reinforce the pride we all take in being Bulldogs! Whether it’s by attending the football game, carnival, karaoke, or anything in between, homecoming provides an opportunity for every student to show their school spirit, and have fun doing it!

Martina Wolf (not pictured)

Age: 22

Major: environmental policy and law, politics and society

Hometown: St. Louis, Miss.

Activities: Admissions Fellow, Service-Learning Ambassador, ONE, Greek life.

What homecoming means to you: Homecoming means celebrating Drake and everything it offers its students. This is an amazing place to be and we should remember that on a daily basis, but homecoming gives us a chance to really show our school spirit and have some fun!! Plus, who can resist free cotton candy?!

Megan Stein