It was a bittersweet night for Mr. and Miss ULM 2022 Jared

Anders and Asja Jordan as they bid farewell after their

year of service. Jordan left the stage holding the hands of

some of her “Warrior Princesses” that she guided during

Warrior Princess Week as a part of her social impact

initiative. Anders left the stage the way he came in—serenading

the audience from the piano.

With the semester coming to a close, students took the

stage to compete for the title of Mr. and Miss ULM 2023.

Fans of each contestant rallied in with cheers of love

and encouragement for their picks to win. Each student

brought their own poise and personality to the competition,

but, in the end, Colby Pogue and Leslie Hobgood

went home with the title.

At the end of the competitions, the Campus Activities

Board, Student Government and the Miss ULM foundation

gave out over $5,000 in scholarships to the contestants.

On the ladies’ side, Hobgood was awarded $2,250 in

scholarships for winning the title of Miss ULM and the

newly named Dr. Derle R. Long Talent Award. Along

with the scholarships, she will have a private on-campus

apartment and a stipend of $4,500 to prepare for her

place in the Miss Louisiana competition.

Her social impact initiative focuses on learning disabilities

in college students.

“I’m actually dyslexic, and I was not diagnosed until

I was 17 years old,” Hobgood said. “I want to bring

awareness to diagnosing students for them to succeed

academically and work to break the stigma with learning

disabilities.”

In her fifirst few months as Miss ULM, Hobgood hopes

to “get the ground running” with testing for students that

may have learning disabilities by calling universities in

the state that already have a testing system in place.

Pogue was awarded $1,400 in scholarships for winning

the People’s Choice and Social Media Award as well as the

title of Mr. ULM.

Pogue was shocked when his name was announced as

the winner, but he is excited to represent the university

and get started on his social impact initiative entitled

“Embrace, Embody, Excel.”

“ThThis is an opportunity for students to participate in a

variety of fun, engaging activities, and they will help students

to learn how to break societal standards and further

involve themselves with themselves,” Pogue said.

Pogue and Hobgood have their sights set high. Both of

them proved to the judges and the audience they have

what it takes to represent the university well as Mr. and

Miss ULM 2023.