Last Saturday, UH announced its Homecoming King and Queen as biomedical engineering senior Ricardo Villarreal and anthropology senior Olivia Dickens.
The duo didn’t start together by choice, but rather were thrown together by fate after the announcement of the official 2025 HOCO Court.
“I feel like all the stars just aligned so well,” Dickens said.
‘Rooted in culture, driven by community:’ Two campaigns brought together by fate
Before being paired together, Dickens was campaigning to help students stay involved on campus, promote UH pride and the community.
For Dickens, her love for the University was gradual.
“I kind of had a delayed acceptance and love towards the University until my sophomore years,” Dickens said. “That’s when I started getting involved.”
As of now, Dickens serves as the Frontier Fiesta Association Board Member, Catholic Student Organization Student Leader & Small Group Leader, Cougar Forensic Science Society Board Member and a UH Ambassador.
Villarreal is a member of Sigma Lambda Beta International Fraternity Incorporated and is one of the only four Latino based multicultural organizations on campus.
Therefore, his campaign was all about promoting the culture and reminding the people how they are still here.
“In a time when being foreign in the United States can feel very heavy, we basically wanted to remind our people that we’re still here, that we’re still standing, that we’re still proud,” Villarreal said. “This one was for the communities that raised us, the cultures that shaped us and really the students who are finding where they belong.”
The duo had a great mixture of culture and community in their respective campaigns, complementing each other.
The beginning, middle, end: A reflection on the Homecoming journey
Villarreal had been friends with past HOCO kings. However, his decision to run for the position came at the very last minute.
Director of Marketing Jakai Wright suggested Villarreal to run for King because Wright believed that he was a very involved individual.
Dickens, on the other hand, had her eyes set on the prize since sophomore year and manifested the win. That’s when she realized it’s an attainable goal that requires effort and getting involved.
“Junior year, I work towards getting more involved in racking up those resume points,” Dickens said. “Then senior year, I put in my calendar this summer my availability for HOCO week, as tentatively unavailable. I am glad I was able to officially click unavailable.”
Both Villarreal and Dickens were still surprised that they actually won and were waiting for the feeling to finally hit them.
“I feel like before, I was definitely very nervous and didn’t know what was going to happen. It was a complete shock,” Villarreal said. “You can see it in my pictures, absolutely shocked.”
Support pillars
The duo agreed that both have been pillars of strength for each other. But other than each other, they were very grateful for UH as well.
“We’re kind of like fire and ice, she mellows me out a little bit and I turned to her to speak with students and create connections,” Villarreal said. “So we really compliment each other well.”
For Villarreal, staff members, Jemal Moore, Stephanie Williams, Monica Padilla and Katie Monigold, at the Engineering Undergraduate Programs Office and Professors Dr. Holley Love, Dr. Gulin Aksu and Dr. Brian Metrovich played a huge role.
“I talked to all of the professors that had first year engineering classes, and I asked if I could go speak at their classes,” Villarreal said. “I went to the Dean of engineering and explained to him that if I win, I would be the first engineering HOCO King ever.”
After this, the Dean really wanted that representation, so he sent out a mass email to all of the undergraduate and graduate students that are enrolled at the University. The message got sent out to over 4000 people, Villarreal said.
Dickens was being promoted by Anthropology department Chair Arlen F. Chase in his classes as well.
For Dickens, her biggest supporters were her friends along with the entire Frontier Fiesta Board.
“Everybody that I’ve interacted with briefly or have developed a good friendship with, they were all really confident, especially the frontier Fiesta board. They were probably my biggest supporters.” Dickens said.
What does it mean to be King, Queen
The duo agreed that for them, winning meant becoming a part of UH’s rich history and taking a huge pride in it.
They feel proud that they get to share the love and pride for UH with more people.
“Maybe people are not going to remember my name, but there’s a possibility that they could,” Villarreal said. “Knowing that being the face of the entire University, where there’s 49,000 people, that somebody was going to hear my story, there was a possibility that they were going to feel inspired and want to continue to fight for that spot on the table.”
Villarreal feels proud of the journey he set on. He was emancipated at 16, and right before coming to UH, he was living in his car for the entirety of the senior year in high school.
However, Villarreal knew that he needed to continue, and started applying to multiple universities. He chose UH because it was the largest and it was the most diverse.
“Going from that to really just having what I could fit inside the back of my car, to now leaving with the crown on my head, it’s insane,” Villarreal said. “There’s absolutely nothing that should stop you.”
They wanted the UH community to know that winning King and Queen is an attainable goal and students can achieve anything they put their mind to.
“If we can, then you can as well,” the duo said.
Future plans
Both Dickens and Villarreal were very enthusiastic about staying involved on campus and interacting with the student body.
They talked about potential future plans and assured that the UH community would see them very soon.
“Regardless if I had won queen or not, I was still going to represent this University, try to get to know students and help them get involved,” Dickens said. “So being Queen for UH just means that I get to help more people on a bigger scale and just enjoy their time here.”
For Dickens and Villarreal, winning King and Queen is just another opportunity to create stronger connections and bring back alumni to UH.
“I mean, we’re both really hard workers, so I know that in this year that we have coming up, we’re going to get a lot of stuff done,” Villarreal said. “You’re going to see a lot from us.”
news@thedailycougar.com
