The Miss Texas Scholarship Organization, Inc. has been empowering young women to achieve their dreams and goals since 1937. That’s 84 years and countless lives that have been enriched as one of the largest providers of scholarship funds to young women throughout Texas.
Participation in this program provides young women the opportunity to promote initiatives regarding community service while using their talents, intelligence and positive values to serve as role models throughout their communities.
The Miss Texas Scholarship Organization operates within the guidelines of the Miss America Organization while stressing individuality, personal development, communication skills and physical fitness. As a competitor in the pageant many, many moons ago, I walked away with a sense of confidence, perspective and the best friends a girl could ever ask for, who have become lifelong friends.
It is true that the traditions of The Miss Texas Pageant, now called the Miss Texas Organization, are as solid as the state it represents, but there are a few changes that have taken place over the years that are worth mentioning. McKinney & Prosper Lifestyle recently had the opportunity to ask Miss Texas 2022, Averie Jenkins, a few questions about her experiences as a competitor and title holder.
As a graduate of Prosper High School, Averie made history last June when she became the first Asian American woman to be crowned Miss Texas America. At press time, she was scheduled to compete on Dec. 15 in Connecticut for the title of Miss America, the long-running national scholarship pageant.
This 25-year-old is a first-generation law school graduate and boasts a TikTok following of more than 850,000 fans.
Averie competed in the Miss Texas competition for three years before winning the coveted crown and title, a dream that she says she had from the early age of 6.
One of her many duties as Miss Texas is to promote her social impact initiative “Y’all Means All.” It’s a diversity and inclusion effort that the titleholder expands in multiple ways; one is through school programs. Averie teaches students about what it means to respect everyone by using a metaphor about growing one’s own garden. She also promotes the initiative through her own nonprofit where she raises scholarships for first-generation students in Texas and SouthEast Asia.
“I’m hoping that by simply existing as Miss Texas and being the first Asian-American woman, I’m inspiring and empowering other young women and individuals to take that step to do what it is they want to do, and to help them convince themselves they deserve to take up space as well,” Averie says.
She adds that she’s enthused to take her wisdom, experiences and knowledge to the Miss America competition. In all phases of competition, Averie says her mission is to show others that their dreams are possible.