Jess Hall, a recent U of A graduate, was crowned Miss Collegiate USA for 2023 at the national competition held in Greenville, South Carolina, in July.

The pageant was held July 8 at South Carolina's Children's Theater.

Hall completed her master's degree in agricultural and extension education in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences with a focus on agricultural communications last spring.

Hall, who competed as Miss Arkansas Collegiate USA, is working as a marketing and communications intern with Agriculture Future of America. She will represent the pageant's platform of "Making College Affordable: Reducing Student Loan Debt."

"I want to take this next year and devote it to literacy, both financial literacy and agricultural literacy," Hall said. "As a first-generation college student, I want to provide resources and guides for higher education students to feel confident in navigating their collegiate experience. Also, as an advocate for the agricultural industry, I want to educate others on the importance, vastness and impact the agricultural industry truly has on each person's everyday life. Thanks to my degrees, both from Texas A&M and the University of Arkansas, I will feel confident in my ability to recruit, communicate and educate others no matter the topic."

In Bumpers College, Hall was a graduate research and teaching assistant in the Department of Agricultural Education, Communication and Technology. Hall's duties included assisting associate professor Jill Rucker and assistant professor William Doss with the World Food Prize, serving as the graduate student coordinator of the Arkansas FFA Agriscience Fair competition and helping with content development of internal programs and courses.  

In addition to the national title, qualifiers also competed for academic achievement awards, steam awards, community service awards and additional cash scholarships to assist in paying for their education.

Hall received a $40,000 scholarship to Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia, a prize package worth over $50,000 to include a Miss Collegiate USA cash scholarship, a $1,000 scholarship from the Thomas M. Green Memorial Scholarship Fund, travel and photo shoot opportunities, local and national sponsor gifts, a sisterhood trip to Walt Disney World and a number of personal appearances.

The Miss Collegiate USA Organization is a non-profit organization. The annual event, its national pageant, celebrates and rewards young women who are college-bound, current degree seekers with higher education exposure or seeking help to pay student loan debt with career opportunities, cash and college scholarships. Goals are to recognize and incentivize young women to receive scholarships for higher education and become positive role models while building a strong sisterhood.

About the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences: Bumpers College provides life-changing opportunities to position and prepare graduates who will be leaders in the businesses associated with foods, family, the environment, agriculture, sustainability and human quality of life; and who will be first-choice candidates of employers looking for leaders, innovators, policy makers and entrepreneurs. The college is named for Dale Bumpers, former Arkansas governor and longtime U.S. senator who made the state prominent in national and international agriculture. For more information about Bumpers College, visit our website, and follow us on Twitter at @BumpersCollege and Instagram at BumpersCollege.

About the University of Arkansas: As Arkansas' flagship institution, the U of A provides an internationally competitive education in more than 200 academic programs. Founded in 1871, the U of A contributes more than $2.2 billion to Arkansas' economy through the teaching of new knowledge and skills, entrepreneurship and job development, discovery through research and creative activity while also providing training for professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the U of A among the few U.S. colleges and universities with the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the U of A among the top public universities in the nation. See how the U of A works to build a better world at Arkansas Research and Economic Development News.