St. Edward’s annual homecoming took place on the weekend of Oct. 27-29 and homecoming court royals were announced at the tailgate on Saturday. Seniors Liberty Vela and Ethan Tobias took home the crowns as St. Edward’s 2023 Homecoming Royals.
“I am very excited and honored,” Tobias said. “I feel like it is a capstone to my whole journey here. It’s almost like an ending point to my past 4 ½ years here, so it’s a little bittersweet to be honest. It’s sad but at the same time it’s a celebration of all the things I’ve done.”
Throughout the week prior, there were a number of events hosted on campus to ignite school spirit. Homecoming court nominations were announced at the beginning of the week and students began to cast their votes on who they thought was worthy of the crown. After the parade, where organizations proudly expressed their hilltopper spirit through decorated banners, the Royal Court Winners were announced to kick off the tailgate.
Both seniors are graduating in the 2023-2024 school year, but Tobias will be leaving the hilltop a semester sooner than Vela. Serving as Student Association Government President for the past semester, he will leave a legacy of work done for the student body and the school as a whole. Vela, who is graduating in the spring, gets to spend the rest of the year among the students who voted her as worthy.
Students have the freedom to nominate whoever they want. After all nominations are in, the candidates are narrowed down through a blind selection. Their names are hidden and a staff committee chooses based on prior involvement and descriptions given by nominators. The final picks are posted, and students can then vote on which student leader they think is most involved in the school or deserve to represent the student body as royalty.
Vela, who has a double major in photography and communication, is the only nominee not on the orientation committee and was surprised to hear about her nomination and win.
“I was so excited, especially because it’s my senior year,” Vela said. “I think it’s a full circle moment for me because I finally got involved. I wasn’t expecting it because I’m not as involved as other people, but I do know a good amount of people in general, so it was definitely a surprise. It was really cool.”
At the tailgate, the royals were crowned by SEU alum Mary Elizabeth Buckel, ‘22, who was crowned in February 2022, and senior Zach Benoit, who was crowned in Oct. 2022. Last year was the first year that homecoming festivities were celebrated in the fall rather than the spring.
