This fall, Mississippi State University named the 2022 Homecoming Court. After interviewing for the position, Avery Braddock was appointed as the new Miss MSU.
Braddock described the moment she learned of her new title.
“When they called my name, I kind of freaked out and fell to the ground,” Braddock said.  
Braddock is a senior communication major from Cincinnati, Ohio. She is a member of MSU’s Diamond Girls and Kappa Delta sorority. She has also worked as a recruiting intern for MSU football, a Gamma Chi for Panhellenic Recruitment, a mentor for the Brickfire Mentoring Program and as an active member of Pinelake Church.
“To see all of the things that I’ve poured my heart and soul into over the last three years, it’s kind of paid off and I get this honor of representing MSU. It was just the most surreal moment,” Braddock said.
Addison Braddock, her older sister and Mississippi State alumna, said she had screamed over the phone when she learned that her little sister won.
While on FaceTime with her sister, she listened for the Homecoming results. She could not hear the announcers well but noticed the reaction on her sister’s face.
“She looked down at me and was like, ‘I got it,’ and I literally, like, screamed,” Addison Braddock said. 
Madee Thompson, a senior communication major and a friend of Avery Braddock, said she was out on the Drill Field when she learned her friend had won.
“I was so extremely happy with her. My heart could not have been more happy that she won Miss MSU,” Thompson said.
Thompson said she met Avery Braddock during freshman year at MSU where they connected in their shared classes. After bonding in class, they became friends and, eventually, roommates.
Addison Braddock said her sister was someone who helped her come out of her shell when she was younger.
“Avery has always had lots of energy and has always brought a lot of light and life to our family,” Addison Braddock said. 
Addison Braddock described her sister as a unique and serving person who brought her out of her shell as a child. 
“I would just want her to know that I am so proud of who she’s become and like the woman she’s become and the friend that she is to people and the sister that she is to me,” Braddock said.
The Braddock sisters have a family history at Mississippi State: both Avery and her two older sisters are third-generation Bulldogs.
Though they moved often growing up, Avery Braddock said MSU was always a constant for her and her sisters.
“My dad came here and my grandpa, so this was the only college I applied to,” Avery Braddock said. “Moving from state to state and all of the different experiences that I had, Mississippi State was my home base.”
Avery Braddock said being Miss MSU meant getting to represent the family environment on campus.
“Being Miss MSU is truly just you getting to show everybody what Mississippi State is all about. We are so family oriented. To me, it’s just getting to represent all of those people,” Avery Braddock said.