The Red Wolves’ 2025 Homecoming week, titled “All Roads Lead Home,” comprised a week of events planned by the Student Activities Board (SAB) and concluded with a rainy football game win.

Jayva Tolbert, a senior elementary education major from St. Louis, said homecoming is a great chance to both reunite with old friends and meet new people.

“All the alumni and current students and everybody who went to A-State come together and have a good time,” Tolbert said. 

Emerson Dorton, a sophomore strategic communications major from Dexter, Missouri, said homecoming means a lot to her because of all the alumni and people who come to campus.

“Everyone on campus gets together, and I just love the school spirit at A-State, so I feel like it’s a great way to represent that,” Dorton said.

SAB hosted various activities during homecoming week, including a Hot Ones event on Monday that introduced the homecoming court and featured prominent A-State faculty answering questions while eating spicy chicken wings. 

“Everything’s Bigger at A-State” was Tuesday’s theme. SAB provided traditional fair food, carnival games, an inflatable bull ride and music to attendees. T-shirts were also given to students who donated canned food items.

The theme for Wednesday was “Mardi Gras Madness” and the event took place on the heritage plaza lawn with jazz music and New Orleans-style food. 

The week of events ended on Friday with the annual “Yell like Hell” event. This event brought the band, spirit squads and registered student organizations together to learn gameday traditions and participate in a friendly competition. 

Dorton, a member of the SAB committee, said “Yell Like Hell” was her favorite event. She said the lip sync battle was also awesome. 

Alpha Phi Alpha, one of the Divine Nine fraternities, won the lip sync battle with a performance that engaged the crowd.

In addition to Alpha Phi Alpha, other organizations on campus showed out for the lip sync battle, including Phi Delta Theta, Delta Zeta, Hermana Y Hermano and University Housing.

Despite rainy weather, the Saturday homecoming game against Georgia Southern drew 16,341 supporters. 

Emily Hale, a physical therapy graduate student from Wynne, Arkansas, attended the game with both students and alumni. She said homecoming is one big community event as Red Wolves fans on and off campus show up to celebrate. 

“Everybody is just coming together as a community to celebrate the football team,” Hale said. “All the alumni that come out, and all of the sororities, fraternities. Everybody comes together, supports the Red Wolves, supports the university.”

During halftime, the homecoming court was presented and escorted by family and loved ones. 

CJ Sterrett, a junior civil engineering major from Dumas, Arkansas, was crowned homecoming king and Abigail Spain, a senior strategic communication major from Milan, Tennessee, was crowned homecoming queen. Sterrett was nominated by A-State Spirit, while Spain was nominated by Zeta Tau Alpha. 

“The win, it’s a blessing,” Sterrett said. “It wasn’t expected, but it’s just a blessing to be in this environment. Just to have the opportunity is a blessing.”

Spain said she’s thankful for the opportunity to even be nominated. 

“We’re just students who like to be involved, and it’s awesome to be recognized for that.” Spain Said.

A-State football running back Kenyon Clay said even though the game was held during homecoming, the team didn’t let that fact influence their efforts.

“Every game is meant to be won,” A-State running back Kenyon Clay said. “We took it as another game. We knew it was homecoming, but I don’t think we let it get to our heads. We want to be a winning football team.”

Coach Butch Jones said, given the weather conditions, he commends everyone who showed up, especially the band.

“They’re part of the team. We talk about being One Pack and they’re a big part of that,” Jones said. “I’m thankful for the people that came out, I’m thankful for the students that came out, and thankful that they went through it.”

Jones said he wants every home game to be a community event, not just for homecoming. 

“Football is a great sport. It’s a spectator sport. We have a lot of people who have worked hard on tailgating in the community. I couldn’t help but notice the mayor leading the band. This should be a community event every time we have a home game. I’m appreciative of the people that came,” Jones said.

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