The royalty: Sameera Ali
The Homecoming Top 10 were selected after one round of elimination based on paper documents and two rounds of personal interviews with MU faculty, staff and local Mizzou alumni.
Sameera Ali
Hometown: Leawood, Kan./Manchester
Majors: Psychology, Sociology
Activities: MSA, Four Front, Zeta Tau Alpha, Chancellor’s Diversity Initiative, GRL (Gamma Rho Lambda), AAA, HALO, Triangle Coalition, LBC
Favorite thing about MU: The people. Coming from outofstate, I was the only one out of my graduating class to come to Mizzou and I didn’t really keep in touch with that many people afterward. So I was a little scared and a little lonely, but that lasted for maybe half a day. It is the people who befriend you and everybody around them, the people who are willing to offer their support and understanding, and then there are the professors and the advisors who are honestly concerned about your future and want to see you succeed. That is something you cannot find at every school, and the fact that I found every single type of person to be around, learn from, teach, offer advice, or just people to hang out with means a lot to me.
Favorite Homecoming Tradition: Campus house decorations has got to be my favorite tradition because I’ve met so many of my friends through working on them day and night, but most of all, my parents and my cousins get to see the hard work that I’ve put in. I love that the purpose of house decorations is for the community — it’s all the little kids who get snacks, candy, and refreshments and derive so much excitement from what we have worked on. Their faces light up and as cheesy as this sounds, it makes those two months worth it. I am ridiculously excited for my niece to come here and get to see homecoming for the first time with my older brother (who’s an alumni) and sister-in-law.