The 2022 UTEP homecoming royalty court was crowned at the annual SGA Homecoming Pageant Friday, Oct. 21, at Magoffin Auditorium.  

The theme was “A Night in Disguise” and the SGA outreach committee worked since the summer to put this event together.  

“It’s definitely one of those things that take collaborate effort from every single body,” said Cira Vera, SGA Vice President of External Affairs.  

Over a hundred attendees were already seated inside the auditorium moments leading up to the pageant.  

“We are all exhilarated, of course, there’s a little bit of nerves and anxiety with anything that you put out there, you want it to be the best it can be, but I am really proud of the team we have,” Vera said.  

Resembling formal beauty pageants, this competition challenged contestants to showcase their school spirit and talent to a judging panel. After all, of fourteen female and eight male contestants, only two could be crowned Mr. and Ms. UTEP at the end of the night.  

To kick off the event, the contestants were introduced one by one and they each creatively displayed their identity and UTEP spirit. The master of ceremonies also read each contestant’s proudest accomplishment as a UTEP student.  

Contestants opened up about their struggles as first-generation college students, overcoming eating disorders and being proud members of the LGBTQ community.  They spoke on their involvement on campus such as the cheerleading team, UTEP marching band, UTEP dance team, student organizations and Greek life.  

As the crowd and judges had insight into who the contestants were, the event then turned to special performances from the UTEP dance team and this year’s Battle of the Bands winner, Melancholy 10. These performances warmed up the stage for the talent portion of the event.  

The contestants gave it their all onstage and had the crowd cheering loudly and enjoying themselves. The talents varied from dance routines in different styles including country line-dancing and Folklorico, drawing Paydirt Pete on a whiteboard, doing card magic tricks, performing spoken words, singing “Amazing Grace” in acapella, teaching the crowd how to make an insulated cat shelter, presenting UTEP history in a creative way  and more.  

Everyone showcased their passions in clever ways to impress the judging panel and the public.  After debating who would represent UTEP this homecoming season, the top five female and male candidates were interviewed, and the royalty court was finally announced.  

This year’s royalty court is in second-runner up, Mr. College of Mines, biological sciences junior, Fernando Martinez. Accompanying him as Ms. College of Mines is history senior Adina Hernandez.  

 First-runner up, Mr. and Ms. Texas Western, are multimedia journalism senior Lorenzo Leyva and kinesiology senior Kaitlyn Bradham.  

This year’s Mr. and Ms. UTEP are marketing senior Carlos Mora and MBA graduate student Stacy Rosa Emma Huhn.  

You can expect the royalty court to make appearances all throughout homecoming week  across campus and at the homecoming football game halftime show at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 29 . 

Josie Avila is the audience and engagement editor and can be reached at [email protected]; Joseline Avila on LinkedIn.