By Kalena Reynolds | Reporter
Crowning a homecoming queen has been a tradition at Baylor since 1934, and it continues to be a prestigious position passed down from student to student. The title was created to designate one student to represent the university and its beliefs, and the role involves a variety of responsibilities.
“The homecoming queen is the person that they feel will best represent the university as far as academics and service and involvement,” Waco senior Abby Geisler, who serves as the Baylor Chamber of Commerce homecoming court coordinator, said.
This year, there is a mix of judges, ranging from Baylor representatives to Waco residents who are unaffiliated with the university.
Requirements for homecoming queen have shifted throughout the years to uphold tradition while adapting to modern standards. The women have gone from being judged on the quality of their float and their beauty to being judged on contribution and representation.
“Originally, it was, I would say, more or less a beauty pageant. Typically, the winner was the most beautiful woman who appeared on stage,” Geisler said. “And recently, it has morphed into something much different.”
To become nominated for the court, a person must be a part of a student organization. Some organizations vote on who they should select, while others choose their president.
After a person has been nominated, they apply and begin preparing for the homecoming court process with information sessions, headshot sessions and group photos. Most of the obligations for the court happen during homecoming week.
“All of the nominees are presented at the first Pigskin [performance] on Thursday night, and their interviews are during homecoming week,” Geisler said. “And then on Thursday, they’ll crown the queen and the rest of the court.”
During homecoming week, the judges begin the process of choosing the homecoming queen through interviews and assessments.
“The judges receive a questionnaire from all of the nominees that they get to read and look over, and then they get to interview all the nominees,” Geisler said. “What they’re really looking for is just someone who can represent the university well, so they look at things like academic involvement, like academic success. They also look at just general Baylor involvement.”
Geneva, Ill., graduate student Amanda Werner was the 2022 homecoming queen and said the judges asked about how she believed she contributed to the Baylor culture.
“They asked just about the Baylor mission statement and how we’ve seen that apply to our lives and our time at Baylor,” Werner said. “So I think they were just really looking for someone who has the desire to see that mission carried out not only on campus, but in their daily lives.”
During homecoming week, the court rehearses dances and routines for different events in preparation for possible crowning. Once the homecoming queen is announced, she is expected to be involved at various events.
“We try out for our halftime routine. We try out for our sidelines during practice. We prepare all of that stuff in advance,” Werner said. “And then, we also just spent a lot of time talking about the logistics of everything, and we have our bonfire routine.”
Several sacred traditions are passed down from one homecoming queen to the next. While most people solely know about the crown, there are many other traditions that embody the title of homecoming queen.
“We have the necklace that gets passed down year after year, and then there’s a deck of cards with a golden queen card in them,” Werner said. “There are photo albums that get passed down in journals where the queens will write in them.”
Such traditions have contributed to the prestigious essence of the position while helping connect Baylor students to history and community.
“We have a robe — really beautiful, the velvet green robe that every queen gets,” Geisler said. “Then, they traditionally ride in the parade in a horse-drawn carriage, which is really, really cool.”
Once homecoming week is over, the queen’s duties are finished until the following year’s homecoming, when they pass the crown and other memorabilia down to the next winner. They also help mentor the next queen through homecoming week.
Although the homecoming queen has been the prominent figure in Baylor history, the university expanded its court to include a homecoming king in 2021 to give a more accurate representation of the entire student body.
