Miss Mississippi and Miss Mississippi’s Teen travel to Orlando for Miss America

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – Miss Mississippi Becky Williams and Miss Mississippi Teen Brooke Bumgarner will travel to the Miss America pageant in Orlando, Florida on Friday.

The national competition begins Dec. 31 and Bumgarner hopes to make history by becoming this state’s first national winner in the teen competition. Williams hopes she will be the candidate to win Miss America since Susan Aikin was the last national champion in 1986 when she won the Miss America crown.

Williams hopes to become the fifth young woman from Mississippi to win the national crown.(WLBT)

On New Year’s Eve, the Miss America contestants, including Miss Mississippi Becky Williams, will arrive in Orlando. The crowning of Miss America 2025 will take place on January 5th. There were four winners from this state, including Mary Ann Mobley, Lynda Lee Meade, Cheryl Prewitt and Miss America 1986 Susan Aiken.

Williams said, “Miss Mississippi Corporation changed my life. My competitive experience in these three years alone changed my life. I’m not the person I was when I started, and even having the opportunity to compete in Miss Mississippi is one thing. Winning is another thing and beyond that I get to represent my entire state. I get to represent the Miss Mississippi volunteers. I get to represent the state of Mississippi.”

Williams has been preparing for the national competition since her coronation in June. She also stayed busy promoting her community service initiative, Make a Move.

“Preparing for Miss America was a little different than preparing for Miss Mississippi because now I’m Miss Mississippi and it’s a full-time job. I’m on the road, I travel all over the state year round, so for the last six months I’ve been visiting all sorts of dance studios around the state but still keeping time. I am so grateful to my dance families in Meridian, Hattiesburg and Jackson for giving me the space to practice. “That was really helpful, but you know, when it comes to preparing for interviews, when it comes to doing the job as Miss America, I prepare every day because that’s exactly what I’m doing right now as Miss Mississippi,” said Williams.

The first night of the preliminary competition for Miss America’s Teen is New Year’s Eve. Brooke Bumgarner of Madison has been preparing and hopes to make history as the first woman to win for Mississippi.

Bumgarner could become the first candidate from Mississippi to win the national title.(WLBT)

Bumgarner said, “She will win a $50,000 scholarship, which is an incredible blessing, and she will also win a year of experiences that not everyone gets to have, and that is such a rare opportunity, and it was.” “It’s a great honor to watch the new leadership at Miss America truly take our program to the next level and allow Miss America’s Teen to have so many incredible life-changing experiences.”

The Miss America preliminary competition begins on New Year’s Eve. The teen winner will be announced on January 4th.

“Only 51 girls per year will be able to compete in the national beauty pageant and it’s incredible that I am one of those 51 and have the opportunity to make friends with people from all over the country,” Bumgarner said.

The new Miss America will be crowned on Sunday, January 5th.

Williams said, “You know, it’s so humbling to be able to say that I’m the face of Mississippi when it comes to this competition so I get the chance to show everyone what we have to offer.”

The new Miss America will receive $60,000 in scholarships. This is the 103rd anniversary of Miss America, the world’s largest scholarship program for women.

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