Emmy Beason, senior in public relations, was announced as this year’s Miss Homecoming winner on Sep. 24, 2022. She won the election with 28.85% of the votes and had a 6.3% margin of victory over the runner-up, Jenna Codner, senior in public relations.
“I immediately put my hand up to my face, because I was so surprised, and I just kind of looked at my dad, like, did they just say my name?” Beason said. “Then it was kind of a hustle and bustle of meeting the governor, getting to shake Dr. Robert's hands, like it was just a really cool moment. Then also just being there with the other four of them. I just think that they're the most incredible women, so it was just a really special moment.”
The Miss Homecoming position is different from other elected student positions as the winner is not elected to office. Traditionally, the title is more honorary than practical and primarily centers around the week of advocacy more than long-term change.
“Miss homecoming is actually a very strange position to be elected to because there's not exactly a job after. It really does look like whatever you want it to,” Beason said. “I think for me, so much of my platform was who I am as a person. I choose to live my life on campus in trying to mentor others and trying to help other students get plugged in, get involved and just encourage students to be connected and help them find a community where they fit.”
Beason looks to further her platform through her responsibilities at Auburn and the Student Government Association and continue helping and encouraging students to find community here at Auburn.
“In everyday life, I'm still serving as the Director of Freshman Forum,” Beason said. "I still know a lot of freshmen and sophomores from Camp War Eagle, and so I'm still continuing to reach out to them.”
As SGA’s Director of Freshman Forum, she is responsible for recruiting a group of freshman students to serve as the voice of the freshman class within SGA, implementing a curriculum on leadership and organizing a mentorship program for freshman students.
Beason is open to exploring the reason why Miss Homecoming is not an official position, and looks to see if she can help bring a change. Future winners will more than likely not be the Director of Freshman Forum or hold a position of power that can help them act on their campaigns after winning the title.
“I've heard that the Miss Homecoming last year, Lady Frances Hamilton, met with someone in SGA,” Beason said. “So my first kind of plan of action is to maybe talk to her and see how that conversation went and see why there's not an official job along with it. I think that the week of advocacy is so impactful and important, but you can't change everything in a week.”
Regardless of whether big changes come to the Miss Homecoming position itself, Beason is still happy with what she was able to accomplish with her platform and hopes that students will continue to find their reason, share their reason and be the reason.
“I think I went into the position knowing that it was a week of advocacy, so I tried to pick something that I could do even without an official position on campus, which was continuing to mentor and continuing to just promote community and help students get involved," Beason said. "I think that's what's so special about the platform, was that it's not something that I was trying to impact like all of campus, I was just trying to impact the person in front of me and encouraging the person next to me to do the same.”
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Ethan Stamper, journalism major, is the campus reporter for The Auburn Plainsman.
