Junior Julia Chong and senior Kingsley Ugoji were crowned Homecoming king and queen Saturday night at the football game against St. Francis University.

Freshman Christine Maia said watching the homecoming court take shape and seeing nominees perform during Homecoming pageant was exciting.

“I really enjoyed the pageant, it was definitely one of my favorite parts of Homecoming week,” Maia said.

Maia was one of many students waiting in suspense for the results at the homecoming, including the nominees themselves.

Five girls and five guys were each nominated for king and queen.

Students were then able to vote online for who they wanted to see win after the candidates performed at the homecoming pageant.

“This is an amazing experience and it’s a pleasure to demonstrate my skills and talents to the Towson community,” Ugoji said during the pageant.

Candidates for king and queen had to have junior or senior status, at least a 3.0 GPA and be a full-time student. After being nominated, candidates had to submit a one to two-page essay expressing why he or she should be Homecoming king or queen. The essays were reviewed by the Homecoming committee.

The candidates for queen and king competed at the pageant. First, the candidates came out sporting their tribal wear in honor of this year’s Homecoming theme “Legends of the Golden Temple.”

Chong said that the homecoming court presented some stiff competition.

“I can honestly say I was truly surprised when I won.  The homecoming court was full of great competitors who were all great contributors to the diverse atmosphere at Towson,” Chong said. “It just shows that taking initiative to get involved, meet new people and immerse yourself in different groups can turn out to be the thing that makes your memories in college.”

During the pageant, the candidates had to show off a talent in a short skit. Chong said she used her background in dance to perform a dance routine while Ugoji dance to Beyonce’s “Single Ladies.”

“That went over really well with the crowd,” Ugoji said. “I came up with the idea two days prior so I was like ‘Is this really going to work?’ But apparently the crowd really enjoyed it.”

Chong said that performing in the pageant gave her confidence and made her excited to find out the results at the game.

“Personally I thought the pageant went really well, I felt a lot more confident afterwards just because the crowd was amazing giving tons of feedback and so it just hyped me up even more,” Chong said.

Ugoji said at the end of the night on Saturday he couldn’t believe he was crowned king and he thanked Towson University for giving him this opportunity.

“It’s amazing, it’s an honor,” Ugoji said. “The fact that my close friend Julia won queen is just the icing on the cake.”

– Megan Flannery contributed to this article