Homecoming energized ULM’s campus all throughout the week of festivities, but the spotlight shined brightest Thursday evening.
The streets of campus gave way to marches and floats as the annual homecoming parade carved its way across campus.
Ace the Warhawk led the parade down the streets and across the bayou for the duration of the parade.
Student organizations made their way down, joined by high schools and other groups from Monroe.
ULM’s marching band brought most of the sound, but Carroll, Wossman and Richwood high schools brought their bands as well. Bystanders who crowded the sidewalks received candy and other parade essentials that flew through the air.
Later, as the sun searched for its home in the western sky, the crowd shifted into Fant-Ewing Coliseum to meet the newly-crowned homecoming royalty.
The homecoming court had been named for weeks, but two titles still remained. After weeks of waiting, the results of the homecoming king and queen races were announced amidst the fanfare of the week.
Jordan Campbell and Ben Nguyen received their respective titles of homecoming queen and king in front of a crowd of friends, family and the other 16 members of campus after a vote by the student body.
Two days after being crowned, the queen, king and the other members of the 2023 homecoming court walked across midfield at Malone Stadium to be honored and recognized at halftime in front of the home crowd.
“What an honor this is,” Campbell said Sunday on an Instagram post. “I will cherish this forever.”
Her court shared a similar excitement from the showcase. Nguyen described the halftime experience as “freaking awesome.”
What’s arguably as incredible for Nguyen is his connection to past ULM homecomings. In 2020, his sister, Lauren Nguyen, received her crown as homecoming queen. His sister made her return to ULM, and his parents made the trip from New Orleans to join the occasion.
“It makes it so much sweeter that there’s something that I get to share as a part of ULM’s traditions and history,” he said.
Others on the court, such as Carlos Moses, said they enjoyed the homecoming experience and saw it as a defining achievement in their college careers.
As a senior beau, Moses said the appreciation the study body showed him by voting him onto the court is something he won’t soon forget. He said he enjoyed the time around his fellow members of the court, which made for an incredible week.
“I felt a little tingling sensation just hearing my name, my major and my hometown being announced at the game,” Moses said. “It definitely felt like a movie.”
