A student from the College of Business and Economics has taken West Virginia University’s Homecoming King crown for the second year in a row.
Though the Mountaineer football team did not take home a win from the October 10 game against Oklahoma State University, Joe Rosati, finance major, was crowned at halftime and named Homecoming King alongside Blaire Rigney of South Charleston, West Virginia.
A native of Saratoga Springs, New York, Rosati serves as the secretary of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, and formerly served as treasurer and philanthropy chair, helping to organize the first annual Fireman’s Challenge. He is also the treasurer of Beta Alpha Psi, a business information honor society organization, and served as vice president of finance for the Interfraternity Council.
Rosati follows in the footsteps of Matt Elder, then-marketing student who won the crown in 2014, as well as Rachel Poe, then-accounting student who was named alongside Elder as queen.
Rosati said the consecutive victories for B&E students show the professionalism that students are taught by its faculty every day.
“I think that Matt and I winning definitely shows how much we learn about professionalism at B&E, and marketing ourselves,” he said. “We both had campaigns that really set ourselves apart from the pack.”
For his campaign, Rosati chose to imitate an album cover photo from The Notorious B.I.G., which he believes is a big part of why he won the election.
“I think I marketed and advertised myself the best this year, coming up with a creative logo as an ode to Biggie,” he said. “The point was to get people talking about it, and it worked. I got a lot of people to come out and support me as a result.”
Beside the marketing campaign itself, Rosati campaigned at the Student Recreation Center, talked to fellow members of student organizations he partakes in, and even made food to hand out at sorority meetings, in order to get votes. He said the experience would be good for him in the future, should he ever decide to run for office.
In addition to his finance studies, Rosati is a music performance minor and is a violinist in the WVU Symphony Orchestra. He credits the discipline he has within himself to being a musician over the years.
“Any musician can tell you that it’s huge in terms of discipline, since you have to make sure to practice in order to have precision. Although I might not be as serious into music as some of the majors, it has definitely enriched my academic career – it’s kind of an escape from the stress of everyday life.
“I’ve had a lot of fun in the orchestra, competing in Texas against other Big 12 universities. It’s really neat to be a part of something bigger than yourself, making beautiful music and being a part of something special.”
He chose to run for king to represent the many students on campus that dabble in different student organizations all over campus, as well as those who didn’t grow up in West Virginia.
“I ran for king because I felt I was a well-rounded student with good academics who could represent the student body as a whole, due to everything I’ve involved myself in and what I’ve worked hard for in the last few years,” he said.
