For a younger BellaRuth Steward, becoming Mississippi State University’s Homecoming Queen was not what she imagined her college experience would lead to.
“I never would have imagined I would have been in this position,” Steward said. “The people around me really encouraged me.”
Steward, a senior marketing major from Sikeston, Missouri, with a pre-occupational therapy concentration, said that the person she was four years ago would not believe who she has grown into since becoming an MSU student.
In high school, Steward said she barely even considered MSU to be somewhere that she might end up. Her older brother went to school here, and she had no desire to copy him. However, she said that changed the first time she visited campus.
“As soon as I stepped on campus, I realized why he loved it so much, and I realized I could make Mississippi State my own,” Steward said.
Steward, a member of numerous organizations on campus, said that the people are what make MSU so great. Steward is a member of the Delta Gamma sorority, where she previously served as the vice president of member education and currently serves as the director of lectureship. She also participated for three years as a Panhellenic new member class facilitator. She is also an MSU baseball Diamond Girl, an ACCESS peer mentor, a first-year experience peer mentor and she served as an Orientation Leader in 2024.
Kathryn Miller, a close friend and former roommate of Steward and a senior communication major, said that she cannot imagine anyone else more deserving of the position.
“I lived with her for two years, and I know how much she would be running out the door to go to her next thing all the time,” Miller said. “I know how much she loves Mississippi State.”
Steward has particularly poured much of her time at MSU into the Brickfire Project Mentoring Program, a program that gives free tutoring, daycare and other services to children from underserved households in the community. She participated as a mentor for the program for two years before moving into the executive role of Supervisor of Mentor Relations in her junior year. As a senior, she serves as the Supervisor of Mentees for the program.
Steward said that when it came time to choose her service project for her homecoming queen campaign, it was easy to choose Brickfire.
“They’ve all shaped me and changed me in so many ways,” Steward said. “I originally joined to give back to something, but it has given me more than I ever could have imagined.”
Another experience that Steward said has been fulfilling is her role as a first-year experience peer mentor, a program that allows MSU freshmen to take a course that teaches them about MSU and gives them opportunities to connect with each other and receive mentorship from upperclassmen.
Bailey Poindexter, a student services coordinator for the School of Human Sciences and a first-year experience course instructor, said that she has loved seeing Steward interact with the students in her class.
“She’s a really joyful person,” Poindexter said. “She is so supportive and genuinely kind, and she works really hard to make sure that students feel like they have a listening ear and a friend.”
Steward said that she is incredibly grateful to have the opportunity to represent MSU as the homecoming queen.
“Because of everything Mississippi State has given me, I had so many opportunities and I met so many people,” Steward said. “It’s not about the title or the achievement, it’s about giving back something I can never repay for.”
