University royalty will be crowned once again at Saturday’s Homecoming game against UMASS.

This year’s King and Queen will be following in the footsteps of last year’s winners, Mick Earley and Jessica Alt. 

Both Earley and Alt graduated in 2012 and are continuing their educations at other universities.

Earley received his degree at the University in moderate to intense special education. He is now living in Gainesville, Florida and is working towards a masters in student affairs at the University of Florida.

Alt, who majored in human development and family studies, followed her time at the University with a move to South Carolina. She is a graduate student at Clemson University studying school counseling. 

“I love BG so it was hard for me to come down to South Carolina. I still miss it a lot sometimes,” Alt said. 

Earley also has a lot of good memories associated with the University.

“The sense of community and all of the friends I made always come to mind when I think about Bowling Green,” Earley said.

Earley and Alt became a part of last year’s Homecoming Court through the same process this year’s nominees did. After getting nominated, they received an application from the Homecoming Steering Committee; they then went through an interview process before formally being chosen. They were among the five Kings and five Queens that made up the court.   

“I was a little familiar with the process because my best friend, who was actually a senior when I was a freshman, had already been Homecoming King here before,” Earley said. 

But he still went through his own unique experience.

“It was all very surreal, and it’s hard to believe it’s happening to you,” he said.

Mike Freyaldenhoven was the Homecoming Steering Committee advisor when Earley and Alt were crowned and remains in the position this year. 

He said it is important that those who make up the court have given back to the University. 

The King and Queen should be “someone highly involved” and “someone really connected to the institution,” Freyaldenhoven said. 

He did not participate in the interview process with Earley and Alt, as judges from other departments conduct the interviews to avoid any conflict of interest, but Freyaldenhoven does have access to the Homecoming applications including Mick Earley’s.

“Based on this [application] he showed that he’s given back as well as received from the institution,” he said.

A list of this year’s court can be found in the falcon center portal on OrgSync. The voting takes place on the site and polls close Friday at noon. 

This year’s court will need to possess the same “Falcon Forever” spirit as Earley and Alt—who were involved in Dance Marathon and “Bikes for Tykes” respectively—in order to receive the honor of being crowned King and Queen, said Freyaldenhoven.

“You sort of got to bleed orange and brown to make it through this process,” he said.