Ward to compete Saturday in Florida's Junior Miss

Sara Ward, Gulf County’s Junior Miss, will participate in Florida’s Junior Miss state program on Saturday, Jan. 23 in Winter Garden. The Apalachicola native was selected to represent the Gulf County area at the Florida Junior Miss program Oct. 17.

The young woman selected during the state program will travel to Mobile, Ala., to participate in the AJM National Finals where she will have an opportunity to win the title of America’s Junior Miss, a share of $125,000 in cash scholarships, and college scholarships to more than 200 colleges and universities across the nation.

Ward, a senior at Port St. Joe High School, is the daughter of Tommy and Patty Ward; sister to Kevin and T.J., and Tara; aunt to Kate Ward; granddaughter of Martha Pearl Ward and the late Buddy Ward, and Verna Shiver and the late Dallas Shiver; and the great-granddaughter of Carmi Ward and Delcie Shiver.

She is currently a member of the Junior Varsity cheerleading squad, where she serves as captain, Key Club, National Honor Society, Senior Executive Board, Mu Alpha Theta, and is senior senator of the Student Government Association.

She has previously served as the Junior Class president, the vice-president of the National Honor Society, co-captain of her Junior Varsity cheerleading squad, and sophomore and junior senators of the Student Government.

Sara is a Hugh O’Brien Leadership Ambassador, a member of the 2009 Homecoming Court, and chosen as the 2008-2009 Miss Florida Seafood. She is a student at Pam Nobles Studio, where she has taken dance classes for the past 14 years.

Upon graduation, Sara plans to attend Flagler College where is will earn a bachelor’s in business administration. She hopes to one day establish her own business, where she plans to take a portion of her profits to found an organization for local children.

Florida’s Junior Miss is an official preliminary of America’s Junior Miss (AJM), the oldest and largest scholarship program for high school senior females of its type. Since 1958, AJM has awarded more than $92 million in cash scholarships and provided thousands of young women with college granted scholarships to colleges and universities across the nation. Each year, AJM makes available more than $52 million in scholarship opportunities to high school senior women.

In addition to providing scholarships, AJM challenges each participant to share its national outreach program, Be Your Best Self (BYBS), with young people across the nation. Through BYBS, Junior Misses encourage self esteem and excellence in all young people through the program’s five principles: Be healthy, Be Involved, Be Studious, Be Ambitious, and Be Responsible.