Maurice May and Jada Hill posing for the Cougar after being crowned king and queen on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024, in the TDECU Stadium. | Raphael Fernandez/ The Cougar

On Saturday evening, UH found its 2024 Homecoming royalty by crowning business finance and marketing senior Maurice May and business marketing senior Jada Hill as King and Queen.

The real-life couple decided to run for HOCO royalty because of the sole reason of believing a king and queen should stay together and represent UH even after being crowned.

“I knew that the Homecoming King and Queen should be a dynamic duo of people who aren’t just gonna meet each other beforehand and then separate afterward,” May said. “They are a duo of people who actually know each other and will actually continually represent the University afterward.”

While May had been thinking about running for Homecoming Court for the longest, Hill did not share the same ambition. Hill tried her best to find May someone else to run with, but her efforts went in vain. However, May managed to convince Hill, which ended up with them winning.

“The moment was very overwhelming, but very joyful too,” Hill said. “I feel like there were not even words to describe how we felt in that moment because it just felt unreal.”

This year’s King and Queen share a special bond as they are two peas in a pod and do practically everything together.

From joining and graduating from the Program for Excellence in Selling to joining fraternities and sororities together, this couple is grateful to UH for giving them this opportunity.

“We also joined the Black Business Student Association at the same time and we both were on the board together,” May said. “We’ve done everything.”

The pair’s story starts well before they got to UH when they started talking in 2019 during high school. February 2025 will mark the couple’s fifth anniversary.

Coming to UH was a natural decision for May while Hill transferred to UH as a sophomore to stay close to her boyfriend.

“​​I feel like everything paid off,” May said. “I did kind of base my decision on where I wanted to transfer on my boyfriend and had a lot of faith in our relationship.”.

Now that they won the crown, May and Hill are reflective of their journey and how it brought them to the finish line

While the entire process of applying and getting selected was pretty stressful, both May and Hill were confident that they’d win because of their personal stories and marketing strategies.

“Most people told us that our marketing was the best because we put in so much effort into it,” Hill said. “I wanted people to see us on social media and know who we are immediately.”

The couple loved interacting with people during their campaigning process and enjoyed getting to know them. They felt grateful for all the connections they made and the support they received.

May and Hill even received some great advice and help from last year’s Homecoming King and Queen, Austin Craig and Auyana Aird.

Moving forward, the duo is very adamant about bringing changes to both the HOCO court as well as to UH students.

They want to work on introducing a scholarship for future HOCO kings and queens as they feel that there’s not much awareness about the importance of the Homecoming Court.

They also want more students and alumni to get involved and understand the real meaning of Homecoming, which is inviting back all the alumni.

Apart from that, as May and Hill are both realtors, they have a combined goal of ensuring and helping college students make a smooth transition from post-graduation to finding their homes.

“It can be really stressful and we’re really proud to say that we’ve helped about 40 to 50 UH students find apartments post-graduation or during college,” May said.

In their personal lives, the duo is very family-oriented and agree that they want to settle in and start a family together.

“I just want to start my family with my woman, my amazing girlfriend,” May said. “I always say this, I have amazing parents and if I can be half the man my dad is, I’ve lived a successful life.”

One of Hill’s biggest fears in this whole journey was one of them not being able to walk the stage with the other.

The couple emphasized how thankful they are to UH and the students who voted for them for giving them the opportunity to continue to do things together, even on the court.

“This has been our longest dream and we thank everyone for giving us this opportunity on this platform,” May said.

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“Meet the Homecoming King, Queen: The power couple clad in royal red” was originally posted on The Cougar