By Tabitha Evans Moore  | EDITOR & PUBLISHER

By 10 a.m. Saturday, Allie Byrom will be riding in Middle Tennessee State University’s homecoming parade in a blue dress with feathers on the sleeves — a dress she has not, as of this writing, tried on.

“Honestly, I’m so type B that I haven’t even tried it on,” she laughs. “So, we’re just gonna hope it works. But it looked really cute online.”

By halftime, she could be MTSU’s homecoming queen.

Allie, a 2023 graduate of Moore County High School, is one of five finalists for the crown, narrowed by student vote from a field of more than a dozen candidates — the biggest field she’s seen in her time on campus. The winner will be announced at halftime of Saturday’s 2:30 p.m. game against Western Kentuckyat Floyd Stadium.

But the road to that field started decades ago, with her grandfather looking for a ride.

AN MTSU LEGACY

Lawrence Mashburn loved MTSU. In the 1960s he went to college at a time when most people from his community didn’t. He caught rides to Murfreesboro with whoever was headed that way and rented an upstairs room from an older couple in a house just off campus on Eaton Street.

While campaigning for the homecoming court, his granddaughter told that story every chance she got.

“I was excited to do it for my grandpa,” Allie says. “I probably told his story to 1,000 people over my two campaigning weeks.”

Lawrence’s daughter — Allie’s mother, Jennifer Byrom — followed him to MTSU. So did both of Jennifer’s brothers, Chris and Craig Mashburn, and Chris’s daughter, Sara Mashburn, who graduated just before Allie enrolled. Lawrence’s sister, Doris Mummert went there too.

That makes Allie a third-generation Blue Raider, and she put it front and center on the campaign trail.

“I used that I was a third-generation student, and that was part of the reason I wanted to run,” she says. “My family loves MTSU, so it was easy for this to be my choice.”

SHE DIDN’T EVEN LIKE THE TEXT

Truth be told, Allie almost didn’t run.

She’d already worked two campaigns from the sidelines. She helped her friend Shelby run two years ago, then helped another sister, Hannah, “almost every single day” last year. Both are her sisters in Alpha Delta Pi, which puts up a candidate every year.

So, when the group text went out asking who wanted to run this time, Allie kept her thumbs to herself.

“I didn’t even like the message, because I was afraid I wouldn’t win or something,” she says. “And they all voted for me anyway. They said I had the best personality to do it, and I was like, all right, we’ll just try.”

Anyone who has spent five minutes with Allie Byrom understands the vote.

ONE PART ELLE WOODS, ONE PART CAMPAIGN MANAGER

Making homecoming court at MTSU takes more than a good smile. Candidates first must clear an eligibility screening — a minimum grade point average, enough credit hours and enough campus involvement — and be approved by the Student Government Association.

Then comes a week of campaigning, followed by a week of voting by the student body.

Because so many candidates ran this year, each was capped at two hours of campaigning a day. Allie logged about 25 hours in all, on a strict budget, and turned in a receipt for every campaign purchase.

She set up a table, put friends behind it and worked the crowd herself, handing out stickers, buttons and candy to “anybody and everybody” she could find.

By voting week, the strategy got a little more direct.

“This sounds terrible, but I was out here begging people to vote for me,” she laughs. “I brought cookies one day, and I was like, you can have a cookie if you vote for me.”

Then she’d have them scan her QR code on the spot.

FROM MCHS RAIDER TO MTSU RAIDER

Most Moore County readers already know her. Allie cheered varsity for the Raiders, was crowned Miss Lynchburg 2022 and was a Miss MCHS finalist. She was the National Honor Society’s social media coordinator and her class’s social media coordinator every year, served on student council and the broadcasting team and, back in eighth grade, managed the baseball team.

She wanted to join a sorority from the time she was in middle school, scrolling through photos of older Moore County girls like Katie Thomas and her friends.

“I just remember being in middle school, and I was like, oh my gosh, they’re so cute,” she says.

At MTSU, she pledged — and talked her friend Maecy Fletcher into pledging with her. She spent a year as the chapter’s digital media specialist, running all of its social media, and two more years on its social media team.

The jump from Lynchburg to Murfreesboro wasn’t hard, she says.

“I was very excited to come to MTSU and just start fresh and meet new people.”

She’s majoring in public relations and marketing with a focus on the recording industry, and she graduates Dec. 12. A job is already waiting — in engineering sales at Actalent where she interned over the summer, matching engineering firms with the contract talent they need to finish projects.

It’s not the field she studied, but it suits her.

“You get to talk, you get to communicate, and you get to sell something,” she says. “And I love the idea of uncapped commission and being able to make whatever I want if I put the work in.”

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE DRESS

Her mother was thrilled about dress shopping required for Allie’s homecoming run. Her father, Allen Byrom, had one concern.

“My dad was like, ‘Oh gosh, how much is this gonna cost me?’” she says. “Those were his exact words. And I said, ‘Nothing, if you don’t know about it.’”

The blue dress is for the parade. For the walk onto the field, she’ll wear a long evening gown with a little extra shimmer, which suits her perfectly.

As for what happens when the name is called, Allie insists she has already won the part that matters.

“In my mind, I don’t have to win,” she says. “It’s an honor enough that I was able to meet as many people as I did. … I mean, obviously I would be super excited to be the winner. But I’m happy no matter what.”

Then, a beat later: “I think if they said my name, I would be like, oh my gosh, are you being for real? I don’t think I would know what to do.”

Lawrence Mashburn once needed a ride just to get to Murfreesboro. Saturday, he’ll be in the stands at Floyd Stadium when his granddaughter walks onto the field — the girl who told his story a thousand times.

The MTSU homecoming parade begins at 10 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 7. Kickoff against Western Kentucky is at 2:30 p.m., and the homecoming queen will be crowned at halftime. You can watch the game on the Blue Raider Network by clicking this link. •

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