Q: What is your year, major and hometown?

A: San Diego, California; Senior; Elementary Education.

Q: What inspired you to run for homecoming queen?

A: That’s a good question. I was talking with someone about this last night. When I started out at the University I really was more of the kind of person to help other people. In high school, I really didn’t run for student government. I didn’t put myself out there. I was kind of afraid of failure. When I got to college, my sorority and everything, it really encouraged me to get out there. You’re never gonna get a “yes” unless you ask kind of thing. Freshman year, I tried out for — I ran for SGA Senate to represent the College of Education, and that’s the first time I’ve ever done anything like that. Homecoming is an important platform. It’s a good way to build confidence in younger girls and be a role model in saying “hey, I think we should work towards this.” The thing is, you don’t have to have a title to do something good, but the title can help promote what you’ve already done that’s good.

Q: What is your platform and why are you passionate about it?

A: My platform is Child Abuse Prevention Services in Tuscaloosa (CAPS). It is an organization my sorority introduced me to first. I am an education major, so we received training for child abuse detection and prevention for mandatory order by the government, and so just learning more about it and how it affects my students in my own classroom. I’m in my internship now, so I am in a classroom everyday and I’ve had students that have personally been neglected and abused. I’ve had students in foster care and students that don’t get to go home until they have people that protect them and care for them. So, I started to get more involved in CAPS. Now I am on the board of directorates for CAPS, so I help plan different events in the community and raise money for CAPS.

I think it’s a really important cause that affects generally children in Tuscaloosa, and it’s not really advocated for at all. You know, people hear about cancer and different things like that, but abuse can be seen in all different kinds of areas. It’s preventable in different ways that, like our community can help with. I feel it is something that, regardless of the outcome of the campaign, I am still going to work with CAPS. I just really hope that the platform of homecoming queen will promote Child Abuse Prevention Services. So, currently I am hosting these percentage nights to raise money. Because currently only half the schools in Tuscaloosa have child abuse prevention programs in it because there is not enough funding. So, by helping encourage them to get involved and make them knowledgeable about this issue, it can just be a platform for future fundraisers and future events and future community programs.

Q: Why do you think students should care about homecoming court?

A: So, I think homecoming is something we should all care about because our university is so fortunate and it has given so much to us, and just seeing that all of our alumni and our parents and our whole community comes out for homecoming — it’s something special for the University, and it just shows that our college experience is more than what we even realize it is right now. So, homecoming court I think almost exemplifies “okay, yes we’re in college.” But as individuals, it’s more than that. It’s about helping our community and helping others and forming the other people around us as well. Homecoming court, I think, is an example of how we serve a great purpose as a student body.

Q: Why should students vote for you?

A: I would like students to vote for me because they believe I was a good representation of The University of Alabama and I hold values that are the same as our university and therefore our student body. My platform is something everyone can be able to get behind and it’s something that when we’re all coming home for homecoming, and you know, all the alumni are coming home, all children deserve a safe home to come home to as well.