Destin's Lauren Adams to compete on the pageant stage for Miss Florida

Wearing the sash and crown to represent Destin at the Destin Fishing Rodeo, community events and parades is one thing, but now Lauren Adams is taking it to a bigger stage. 

Adams, now 21 and a student at the University of West Florida, was crowned Miss Pensacola in September and will be representing Pensacola at the Miss Florida USA pageant in May at Coral Springs. 

But in the meantime, she has moved back to Destin and will represent her hometown, Destin, at the Miss North Florida Scholarship Pageant on Jan. 27-28 in Marianna. 

More:MISS DESTIN 2020: ’I’m not scared to touch a fish’

“I had the opportunity to represent my home town … no better way to do that. Destin is my home and will always be my home,” she said. 

Adams, a graduate of Fort Walton Beach High School, is the daughter of Billie and Kristi Adams. 

The Miss North Florida is a scholarship pageant, pretty much the same as the Miss Destin pageant.  

“You go and talk about your hometown, there is fun fashion and an interview process, then an on-stage question,” Adams said. 

More:Farewell to Miss Destin Lauren Adams: A fish fileting, roll with the punches, unflappable girl

“I think doing Miss Destin really helped me to be confident with that stuff,” she said. 

Adams served as Miss Destin in 2020 with her main job to represent the Destin Fishing Rodeo during the month of October. 

As for the scholarship part, Adams said it is a school scholarship between $2,000 and $5,000. 

“A semester paid for is a semester paid for … you can’t go wrong with that,” she said. 

Adams is a junior at UWF and is studying to be a physician assistant with a major in exercise science and a minor in interdisciplinary science. 

Who is competing in the Miss North Florida Scholarship Pageant? 

“It’s girls from our region over to Jacksonville … the Panhandle basically,” she said noting there are about 12 women vying for the title. 

At the pageant there will be a panel of three judges, “that don’t know any of us,” she said. 

The judges recently received the women's bios and a lot will be based off of community service and things they do in school. 

More:Miss Destin Lauren Adams juggles school, work and fish, and loves every minute of it

Adams is in the Alpha Delta Pi sorority at UWF and serves as vice president with the sorority. She chose that particular sorority because of their involvement with the Ronald McDonald House in Pensacola. 

“I fell in love with their philanthropy,” she said. 

She also helped to start a women’s led ministry this past year at UWF. 

“There are so many things you can be involved in, in your school and community. I love serving,” she said. 

Why do pageants? 

“I loved being Miss Destin,” Adams said, noting she has enjoyed her time as Miss Pensacola as well. 

Adams said she loves being an advocate for little girls and letting them know they can be whatever they want to be. 

“I think a lot of it is … my mom’s friends that have little girls, they look up to me and want to be that representation. It’s a confidence boost that makes me want to take it to the next level,” she said. 

“Miss Destin really got me out of my shell and it kept going from there,” she added. 

As Miss Pensacola she has supported brain injury awareness because of an uncle who died from a brain injury 10 years ago. 

“That’s my big thing, knowing that you can do stuff past a small platform, and make it bigger on a bigger level. Just being an advocate, I like what I do,” she said. 

She also participated in the Christmas parade and is lined up to do the Mardi Gras parade in February in Pensacola. 

If Adams wins the Miss Florida pageant in Coral Springs the next step would be the Miss USA pageant. 

“I haven’t thought that far,” she threw up her hands with a smile on her face and said. “I’m just going step by step.” 

For now, her goal is to become a physician assistant. 

After she graduates in the spring of 2024 from UWF her plans are to enter the Air Force and finish her PA schooling. 

“You can’t go wrong with the military, whether it takes four years or eight years, I’ll be serving my country,” she said. 

However, if she were to win the Miss Florida, “that could open up a whole new thing. But I think the plan is to stick with school."

“If that opens another door, it’s another door and we’ll just see where God takes me at that point, that’s the way I see it,” Adams said. 

“But the plan right now is finish school through the Air Force and do pageants along the way,” she said.