For the first time in school history, Mississippi State University added a Homecoming King to the mix in this year’s homecoming election.

Anthony Daniels, a psychology and pre-nursing major, was elected Homecoming King by the student body and will be announced at the upcoming football game when the Bulldogs face The University of Kentucky.

Daniels, a Brookhaven native, is a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity and is on the Executive Interfraternity Council of MSU. He is a part of Fashion Board and is also a mentor for the Brickfire’s home after school program. He also spends his time working at the Butler Guest House and the Retreat of Starkville.

Daniels said he found out about Homecoming King through the Student Association’s social media and decided to run for it.

“I’ve done a lot of things at Mississippi State as far as being involved from freshman year all the way up to senior year, and realizing that I’m getting older and running out of things to do,” Daniels said. “I decided I wanted to do just one last thing here at State and homecoming King just sounded like something that I could do.”

A lot of his campaign process, he added, was done through social media, specifically through Instagram.

“I’m a big Instagram guy and I got a big group of people to post and get the word out,” he said.

Once the results were in, Daniels said he was happy his hard work of campaigning  paid off and he could not wait for his mom to be by his side to share the special moment come Saturday afternoon.

“She doesn’t get to come up here a lot because she works and I want to see her smile and look at the crowd and be amazed,” Daniels said.

Daniels said one of his favorite things about MSU is the atmosphere, and being able to look around and be thankful that he goes to MSU. He said he chose MSU based off those things being proven at Super Bulldog Weekend, his favorite event that the university holds.

In five years, he would like to see himself graduating nursing school with his Bachelor of Science in Nursing and going into the traveling nursing program. Daniels is excited to see different hospitals and meet many new people along the way.

The Homecoming King chose nursing because of his personal experiences in hospitals and being able to shadow the nurses with a program his high school offered.

“I like at [patients’] most desperate times you [the nurse] get to be there and help them through and put a smile on their face,” Daniels said.  

Audrey Montalvo, a kinesiology major and one of Daniels’ longtime friends, said he was excited when Daniels expressed he was running for homecoming king.

“I knew as soon as Anthony told me he was running for homecoming king that there was no one else who could represent Mississippi State better because he is the prefect representation of our university,” Montalvo said.

One of Daniels’ fraternity brothers, Cole Herring of Woodlands, Texas, also helped the campaign process by letting other Greek chapters, posting on social media, and campaigning on the drill field the day of the election.

Herring has three words come to mind when he thinks of the Homecoming King: hardworking, dedicated and outgoing.

Daniels was grateful for all the support from his friends and the MSU students for helping him accomplish his goal of becoming Homecoming King and looks forward to the opportunity to represent MSU.