2024 Royal Jaguars crowned during UHV Homecoming
Communications design junior Annette Clark never thought she would see it become a reality, but on Saturday, the Houston native, was crowned a Royal Jaguar.
Clark was one of the three Royal Jaguars to be named as part of UHV’s homecoming. Along with Clark, UHV seniors Christopher Guyton and Nelson Murray were crowned as the Royal Jaguars.
“I didn’t expect to come this far,” Clark said. “But with high hopes and belief, I definitely am able to push myself.”
Clark said she decided to run for homecoming court after hearing a suggestion that she should. Homecoming events were never in the forefront of her mind, saying she had only attended one homecoming game in high school before coming to Saturday’s UHV Homecoming event.
This is the fourth year the Royal Jaguars have been named during the university’s homecoming celebration. The university changed the title from Homecoming King and Queen to Royal Jaguars in 2021 to offer a more gender-inclusive option for students.
“This moment shows me how much support and love I have at UHV,” Clark said. “The number of people who came out and believed in me, it was amazing.”
This year’s homecoming theme was “Spirit of ’73” to commemorate UHV’s 50th anniversary. On Saturday, the President’s Tailgate was held, and spectators rallied to cheer on the Jaguars as they faced off against LSU Shreveport in a doubleheader baseball game.
“It was just so great to see so much school spirit, not only with the students, but also with the faculty and staff,” said Freddie Cantu, interim director of UHV Student Life. “We had five amazing candidates for the Royal Jaguars, and our winners are all super happy and excited, and they’re going to be great representations for the next year.”
For Nelson Murray, being crowned a Royal Jaguar was not only an honor, but a moment he will remember forever. Murray is a senior majoring in applied arts and sciences and comes from San Antonio. After finding out he was one of the Royal Jaguars, Murray said he felt immense pride in himself for putting himself out there and said he hopes his parents are proud of him as well.
“It feels amazing,” Murray said. “This is our moment; this is Annette’s moment; this is Chris’ moment; this is our moment.”
As Christopher Guyton goes into his last semester at UHV, the criminal justice senior said he wanted to put himself out there and run for the Homecoming Court.
“It’s cool that I carried on a major tradition at this school,” Guyton said. “Not only that, but I was able to get involved in the school campus as well.”
While running for a spot as one of the Royal Jaguars, Guyton said the most important thing he wanted to do was present his authentic self to the university. Originally, Guyton said he wanted to run last semester but decided against it. Since this is his last semester at UHV, Guyton said he decided to go all in.
“It feels amazing to have the school’s support by my side,” Guyton said. “It’s an honor to be part of something great for this university.”
The University of Houston-Victoria, located in the heart of the Coastal Bend region since 1973 in Victoria, Texas, offers courses leading to more than 50 academic programs in the schools of Arts & Sciences; Business Administration; and Education, Health Professions & Human Development. UHV provides face-to-face classes at its Victoria campus, as well as an instructional site in Katy, Texas, and online classes that students can take from anywhere. UHV supports the American Association of State Colleges and Universities Opportunities for All initiative to increase awareness about state colleges and universities and the important role they have in providing a high-quality and accessible education to an increasingly diverse student population, as well as contributing to regional and state economic development.