CHILDERSBURG RESIDENT NAMED MISS HAMILTON
Jayla Duncan, a 19-year-old sophomore at Samford University, won the title of Miss Hamilton 2024 and will go on to compete in Miss Alabama in June 2024. Jayla is a Childersburg native where she graduated from Childersburg High School in May 2022.
Duncan is the daughter of D’Andrick Duncan and Dana Thomas, both of Childersburg. At Samford, she is a cheerleader, and serves as sophomore class vice-president. She is pursuing a B.A. in Journalism/Mass Communications with a minor in Political Science and Sports Media.
Duncan’s community service initiative, Jayla’s Justice: An Anti-Bullying Campaign, was formed in 2015 as the community service initiative for her participation in the Miss Alabama Teen competition, and she has continued her anti-bullying work into the Miss Alabama competition. She also founded her 501(c)3 Be the SPARK Foundation (Sharing Positivity and Inspiring Random Acts of Kindness) to raise money for anti-bullying materials she uses in schools and in the community.
Miss Hamilton is a preliminary competition for the Miss Alabama organization, a part of the Miss America scholarship organization.
About the Miss Alabama Organization
The Miss Alabama Organization is a not-for-profit organization that awards college scholarships to outstanding young women of Alabama, and its mission is more critical than ever in this time of inadequate funding for education in Alabama. As a part of the Miss America Organization, the Miss Alabama competition stands as a shining example of what can be accomplished when college women are challenged and encouraged to achieve ambitious goals.
The program at the state level benefits all its participants with monetary college assistance and creates a foundation of self-confidence that lasts a lifetime. Candidates for the title develop interview skills, build self-esteem, and learn commitment from a process of self-evaluation that prepares them for future challenges and pursuits.
The community service aspect of the Miss Alabama program propels candidates for the title into arenas of prominence where policy is made, laws are enacted or changed, crucial funding is realized, and lives are positively affected. Candidates work for causes represented by their personally chosen social impact initiative, which may include cancer research and education, organ donation, child enrichment and mentoring programs, senior citizen advocacy, arts and cultural organizations, and many others.
