Liska Hromnak, Windsor High School’s 2017 Homecoming Queen, was welcomed at the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tennessee, over winter break to participate in the America’s Homecoming Queen competition to represent the state of Missouri.

America’s Homecoming Queen competition is a nonprofit organization that is an invitation only event. To qualify, you must be a high school homecoming queen, whether it be during football or basketball, and have never participated in the competition before. The selection of competition is between girls from different localities.

This organization promotes education and community service for high school homecoming queens. There is an opportunity to receive a scholarship for all of these girls. Each participant has their photo on their website and friends and family can vote $1 a vote. so they can become America’s Favorite Homecoming Queen. The scholarship is used to further their education and is tuition use only.

Hromnak was invited to this event after she applied to the America’s Homecoming Queen scholarship. She was reviewed by their board and was selected as one of the top homecoming queens in Missouri, and then as one of the top queens in the entire Midwest.

While in Memphis, Hromnak and other contestants were able to tour the city and engage in community service with both St. Jude’s Research Hospital and Ronald McDonald House, collecting tabs and bringing them in for donation. On December 30, the contestants were escorted onto the field by the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC) high school boys for the pre-game and also danced during halftime while funk/soul icons, The Isley Brothers, performed. In the actual game, the Iowa State Cyclones defeated the Memphis Tigers 21-20.

“It was super fun and a wonderful experience! I’m so glad I got to go,” Hromnak said.

An initial judging of each queen from each state determines the finalists that compete for the national title. The queens meet at a convention over the summer, and the finalists are chosen from those queens. If a queen is selected as a finalist, they receive a scholarship amount being determined by how they placed. The scholarship letter states the queen of each state has the school of their choice that they are enrolled in to sent a statement of their charges to the America’s Homecoming Queen’s Memphis office.

“I would definitely encourage future homecoming queens to seek out opportunities like this one that I found. They make such an impact on your life and are a great learning experience,” Hromnak said.