PirateQ 
They have personalities. They have skills and talent. What they need and want, though, is your vote.
Twenty-five Pensacola State College students have self-nominated for the 2023 Homecoming Court, a vital feature of the first PSC Homecoming celebration since the 1970s. The nominees include 22 women Pirates. The top five vote-getters will make up the 2023 Homecoming Court. Only three men are self-nominated, so all will be members of the Court.
Voting ends at 3 p.m. Friday, Feb. 17. To cast your ballot, go to https://www.pensacolastate.edu/homecoming/. The poll is open to everyone, whether they’re affiliated with the College or not.
The Homecoming Court will be presented, and the Homecoming Queen and King will be crowned during halftime of the women’s basketball game against Northwest Florida State College.
The women’s game begins at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 22, in Hartsell Arena on the Pensacola campus. The men’s game starts at 7:30 p.m.
Voting opened on Monday, and some candidates wasted no time trying to sway potential voters.
Nursing student Derek Beau Olford showed up to the Delaino Student Center in his nurse scrubs with a bag of Hershey Kisses and a plastic tub of striped peppermint candy to give out as an incentive. (There are very few PSC Homecoming Court campaign laws. Offering gifts to constituents is not prohibited.)
Candidates Victor Dixon Jr., Jocelyn Gebhard, Christina Hunter and Summer Storm Sharer mingled with students in the pavilion near the Student Center where the Baptist Collegiate Ministries was hosting its weekly cookout. Gebhard, a nursing student, even handed out flyers showing a nurse holding a needle and syringe with the caption “It’s Worth a Shot – Vote Jocelyn for Homecoming.”
Some of the students have had experience with Homecoming in the past.
“I did this in high school,’’ Hunter said, referring to her past homecoming court experience. And why should voters consider her?
“I’m a good person, and I’m kind,” she said, while some friends beside her nodded in agreement. “I’m outgoing and social – and I’m also one of the Student Ambassadors.”
Sharer, her friend, offered a goofy grimace. Both she and Hunter are cosmetology students.
“I make jokes,’’ Sharer said. “That’s about it.” (Not really. She’s also into art, photography, makeup, swimming, and “late-night drives.”) Hunter said her hobbies include “singing, dancing, doing hair, and going out and having fun.”
While both women are 18 years old, some of the students are not traditional students. Olford is 43, married, and a father of three daughters, including 11-year-old twins.
One of the twins convinced the nursing student to run for Homecoming Court.
“You know, this is a second chance for me,’’ he said, telling the story of how he suffered a severed spinal injury and later a heart attack while working in his previous job at a local jail. His doctor urged him to switch careers, and Olford was accepted into Pensacola State’s nursing program just before Christmas.
“I want to help people, and nursing is definitely a way to do that,” he said. “But I thought no one was going to want an old man for Homecoming Court. But one of my 11-year-olds said I should run and told me that things are different now. People don’t just see young or old or black or white or man or woman. They see people.”