The crowning of the 85th Miss Alabama State University, Aarin Carver, marked the pinnacle of excitement at the Dunn-Oliver Acadome on April 11th. The pageant, featuring eleven contestants, showcased a competition for various titles within the university’s royal court for the 2024-2025 school year.
With a total of eleven contestants, each vying for various titles within the pageant, the competition was fierce as contestants showcased their grace, talent, and intellect throughout the evening.
The contest for Miss Sophomore featured Ashleigh Pitts, Paige Scott, Cortagia Stamps, and Jada Whitfield, while Trayonna Hampton, Jaleah Jackson, and Aaliyah Thomas competed for the title of Miss Junior. Faith Blackwell and Nia Cargile competed for the crown of Miss Senior. The coveted title of the 85th Miss Alabama State University was sought after by Aarin Carver and Ferrin Lewis.
Kicking off the pageant festivities, the contestants captivated the audience with a group dance performance before individually introducing themselves. This was followed by the oratorical segment, where each contestant eloquently conveyed their qualities and aspirations for the royal court.
Technical glitches marred Pitts’ oratorical speech, necessitating her to recite her speech once more, demonstrating resilience in the face of adversity. A student in the audience expressed that, “Alabama State is known for mic issues at this point.”
The talent showcase highlighted the diverse skills of the contestants, with performances ranging from dance routines to spoken word poetry, musical renditions, and science showcases. Notable performances included Blackwell’s rendition of Whitney Houston’s “I’m Every Woman,” Cargile’s piano performance, and Lewis’s science showcase coupled with a violin performance.
The evening gown showcase and the question-and-answer session provided the contestants with an opportunity to display elegance and eloquence as they fielded questions on a range of topics, from current events to campus issues. Unlike the other contestants, Carver and Lewis had to answer two questions since they were vying for the title of Miss. ASU.
Amidst the pageantry, the outgoing 84th Miss Alabama State University, Kayla Edwards, gave a heartfelt farewell speech, reflecting on her tenure and expressing gratitude to the ASU community.
As the curtains drew to a close, the results were announced, with Paige Scott crowned as Miss Sophomore, Jaleah Jackson as Miss Junior, and Faith Blackwell as Miss Senior. The crowning moment arrived as Aarin Carver was declared the 85th Miss Alabama State University.
Angelia D.Flowers • Jun 8, 2024 at 6:43 am
The university speaks highly on their students becoming ASU History Makers. Ferrin A. Lewis is a 4.0 student, has not made one “B” since enrolled as a Freshman in August of 2021. She was crowned Miss Freshman (2021), Miss Sophomore (2022), and Miss Junior (2023). For three years straight, she was accessible to her peers and she made sure they did not go without wanting anything. She provided monetary funds, toiletries, food, clothing, household items gas cards, etc. monthly to her peers. To take you back a little further, she attended the ASPIRE program while in middle school and was crowned Miss ASPIRE for the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 academic school year. One doesn’t have a track record as such not to be crowned Miss ASU. In my opinion, this years pageant was a miss opportunity for Alabama State University. Why do I feel this way? For starters, ” the student votes for the pageant should not count for 40% and the judges 60%”? Miss ASU is the queen of the student body, not the judges. Secondly, their should not be any changes to the pageant the day before the actual pageant is held. This year, the pageant director called the parents of the contestants and told them that their would be a change in the percentage of this years pageant competition “to allow fairness to everyone”. This was done the day before the pageant. How do I know this to be true, because I received a call from the pageant director informing me of the change. Hmm, how ironic this was the day after all the student votes were in and (allegedly) Ferrin had secured more votes from the student body than her opponent.
With all that being said, moving forward there should be changes to future pageants. I wish the student body a great 2024-2025 academic school year.