On Oct. 9, 2021, the West Texas A&M University crowned Ustina Guirguis as the new Homecoming Queen. The crowning moment was done at halftime of WTAMU’s Homecoming game against Angelo State University at the Buffalo Stadium. Branson Cruse was crowned the Homecoming King.

Guirguis is a Daytona Beach FL. native who came to WTAMU after a recommendation from her agriculture teacher from high school. Guirguis is a senior agriculture media and communications major, as well as a staff of Advising Services.

“I was just really excited to be a part of the process, even from the morning prior,” Guirguis said. “I was just excited to be here and I just feel honored to be part of it, and when we were walking down from the stairs to go onto the field, I was giving little kids high-fives and it was a really good moment.”

According to WTAMU Homecoming, the Homecoming court had a number of notable names.

“The Homecoming court also included Hannah Scarborough, a senior agriculture media and communications major from Decatur; Abby-Kate Hays, a junior sports and exercise science major from Boyd: Jax Brooks, a freshman student from Amarillo in the Where the Learning Continues program and J.J Castillo, a senior management major from Amarillo.”

Born to an American mother and an Egyptian father, Guirguis is bilingual and speaks English and Arabic. This creates an interest in diversity and respect for all human races in Guirguis, who loves to learn from other people. Guirguis recounted her experiences travelling to a number of countries including Greece, Italy, Austria and Hungary.

“Being Homecoming Queen gave me the opportunity to share the light for other people, like there is not one type of person that’s Homecoming Queen,” Guirguis said “It’s not like something from the book because everyone has the chance to be Homecoming Queen. To get back into diversity, you do not have to be the most popular person. I just went to have fun and homecoming should just be a fun process. Half of my promotions were jokes.”

The experience altogether for Guirguis has been a surreal one since she submitted in her application to be Homecoming Queen. The lesson to her in all of it, was not to lose sight of what the goal is, or to give up at the sight of simple difficulties.

“You might experience failure, but that does not make you a failure,” Guirguis said. “I think anything you learn from that makes you develop yourself to be a better person and a good member of society, so I really take that a lot to heart.”