At this year’s Homecoming Decorating Contest, the University of St. Thomas-Houston’s Veteran Success Center crushed it with creativity and originality. Seven UST departments participated, each making every effort to outdo the others.

Visit Experience Specialist Reeja Awan shared that the decorations by various departments made the judging tough.

“I had the privilege of selecting our judges and walking them through all the participating departments and finally calculating the final scores to get our winners,” Awan said.

To serve as judges, Awan selected Rising Stars Director Dan Garcia, Special Programs Manager Sol Herrera, and Rising Stars Assistant Director Marlen Rodriguez.  

And the Winners Were

The six winners were as follows:

·      Best Decorated Door – Residence Life quickly scored here with the creative way they displayed Taylor Swift albums as books.

·      Best Show of Spirit – Dining Services won hearts by capturing the essence of making UST your home.

·      Best Decorated Individual Office – JAAC, according to Awan, “screamed PAAC THE JAAC with RED, GOLD, and BE BOLD through and through.”

·      Most Original Decorations – Veteran Success Center walked away with this win thanks to their creativity and originality.

·      Best Decorated Department – UST’s Police Department reflected school spirit everywhere you looked and let their decorations do the storytelling.

·      Overall Best Decorations – Student Activities highlighted how Taylor Swift would have geared up her cuteness if she were a Celt.

Awan gave all participants a big thumbs up.

She said, “The Decorating Contest is only possible due to all the great participation from our departments! They make Homecoming come to life through the effort they put into spotlighting their parts of our campus.”