Q: What is your year, major and hometown?

A: I’m a senior here at the Capstone. I’m from Huntsville, Alabama majoring in communication studies and criminal justice.

Q: What inspired you to run for homecoming queen?

A: A number of different things. It was kind of something that I was interested in doing ever since I got to the Capstone. My freshman year, I was a Phi Mu and one of our older girls was running for homecoming queen, and I was completely inspired by her – that was Katelyn Katsafanas. And I was completely inspired by her and how she chose her platform, number one, and how well she executed her campaign, and how well everybody was supporting her and then being able to see the lasting impact of that campaign was remarkable. She was one of the people who helped start the annual suicide prevention walk, the Out of the Darkness walk that we have every year.

Getting to see that come to fruition and maintain its presence on campus even past homecoming was something that I was really inspired by, so when it came time for me to pick my platform I thought, “Well how can I leave an impact on this campus the way Katelyn did?” And so I was just like, “You know what, this is one of the best ways I think I can do that, by spreading the word and running for homecoming queen,” and I’ve just been inspired ever since.

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

A: My platform is in support of an organization called the Brown House community. It’s out of Northport, Alabama right past the “Roll Tide” bridge, which makes an appearance in any kind of video that I’ve been putting out or anything like that. This is an organization that was started as a nonprofit in 2004 by Adam and Amy Pierce, who was a middle-class suburban family who decided to move out of the suburbs and into the Northport government housing project in order to redistribute the wealth, prosperity, their faith and a number of other resources to the community.

The reason why I’m especially supportive of this, and the reason why I’m so passionate about it, is I’ve had the opportunity to volunteer with them a couple of times, and one of the most impactful times that I did get the opportunity to go and work with them was this past April when another student organization that I’m in and I went on a service opportunity, and we set up some volleyball nets and we brought chalk out and footballs and frisbees and all kinds of stuff like that, and we even brought some basketballs. And one thing that really stood out to me was the fact that they had this nice, dedicated area for play, about as nice as it can be in the area and the space that they’re living in, but the one thing that they were missing were basketball rims. And the students were still out there just playing with their imagination, and I was just completely inspired by that. By the fact that they could be in the life that they are, in the moment that they are and find a way to make the absolute best of it, just with us around, it was a really moving experience.

Personally, I’ve suffered from adversity and hardship and struggle growing up in a number of different ways, nothing that in any way compares to the situation that a lot of those children and families have probably been born into, but I’m inspired by the fact that I’m even able to be at The University of Alabama. So I would like to use the opportunity to be here to go back and help or advocate for those students who aren’t here yet to let them know that people care about them and that people are fighting for them and that we want to see them succeed. I guess that’s the best summary of why I’m passionate about that organization.

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

A: It’s always an interesting concept, homecoming queen is. I remember in high school I graduated with a class of 84, so our homecoming court was all of our best friends. It wasn’t a big deal, and sometimes I think, too often, that carries over into college. Here at The University of Alabama, I think a lot of people don’t want to accept a flyer, a lot of them don’t vote, there’s very little voter turnout, but to me it’s the one opportunity for the University to pick somebody to truly represent them as a student. I think that homecoming queen should be an embodiment of all things here at the Capstone, or at least as many as possible. Whether that be service, involvement, character, all of those avenues, I think they should definitely be represented in the embodiment of the homecoming queen.

So, that is my sense of urgency for voters is for them to get out and to vote and to select who they want the face of this university to be. If that is their best friend, if it’s a stranger they met out on the quad, whatever it may be I hope they select or that they vote, period, and allow it to be something that they can express themselves through and that they can be proud that the University has supported that candidate through. I think it’s a great opportunity for UA to show its progression, progress, its character, the most ideal student, just somebody who’s all-encompassing, I think that’s who represents homecoming.

Q: Why should students vote for you?

A: I think that we have a lot of great candidates. I was actually just speaking with someone shortly before you and I spoke and he had another candidate’s button, and he asked me the exact same question, and I said, “Truthfully, [the other candidate], I know by association,” and I said, “Truthfully, I love her. I think she’s a great girl.” But I just think it’s appropriate to take yourself out of the equation when you’re asked that question and to allow yourself to embrace the other women that are on the court. So while I would love to sit here and say, “Vote for me because I will carry through.

Vote for me because I will do this,” I just want people to take a moment to bask in the empowered women, who out of 38,000 students on this campus, said, “I want to stand on the Quad, in the Ferg, go around door-to-door, organization after organization and talk passionately about my platform.” I think that that speaks volumes in the kind of women that The University of Alabama builds. So while I would love to say, “Vote for me because I’m the best candidate,” while I would love to say “Vote for me because I’m passionate about my platform,” I would just like to take people’s vote in record of just being an individual – a caring, compassionate person who, just like the other seven women on the court, all have something that we care about and all have something that we want The University of Alabama to hear our passion for.