Julianna Rankel will be competing for the Miss New Jersey title in June.
“You have 24 hours in a day, what will you do with them?”
This is the quote that inspired Tabernacle resident Julianna Rankel to take the stage at her first local Miss America competition.
After years of looking up to women of the Miss America organization through her television screen, Rankel decided it was time to get involved herself, and after participating in her first competition in Atlantic City, she was crowned Miss Columbus Day 2019.
The local competition featured eight women from Burlington, Cape May, Gloucester and Atlantic counties, and Rankel not only took home a crown, but she also won best evening gown, best interview, the people’s choice award and the academic excellence award.
“This is an affirmation that I’m going in the right direction, especially with the women I was around — they were all such accomplished and incredible women and to be in a room with them and say that I’m considered one of those women was an accomplishment in itself,” Rankel said. “The Miss America organization provides you with a microphone, we all have a voice and we all have something we can go out and do, and the Miss America organization gives you that microphone to do it.”
Rankel used that microphone to promote her platform of mental health awareness, R.E.A.C.H. Out, which stands for the need to recognize, educate, advocate and collaborate with human and health resources.
This five-step initiative encourages early intervention and youth advocacy in regard to mental health and how it is addressed with children.
“It’s something that we can’t keep brushing under the rug anymore, and I think this is an issue that if we address it starting with school-age children, I think this is something that can really reform our generation and create a generation of acceptance,” Rankel said.
To spread awareness of her platform, she has been working with the National Alliance on Mental Illness to help it prepare for its upcoming state conference, in which Rankel will be speaking about the importance of youth advocacy and encouraging children to get involved with their psychology programs at school.
In addition, she has been working with local Girl Scout troops in Tabernacle to help them gain their mental health awareness badges, as she feels young leaders should be equipped with this knowledge going forward.
Rankel herself was a Girl Scout for many years, and she said that is what provided her the opportunity to feel comfortable serving in the community — ultimately contributing to her decision to get involved with the Miss America organization.
Rankel will be taking on her next competition in June, where she will be competing for the title of Miss New Jersey, which she has been preparing for with the Miss Columbus Day committee of Atlantic City, the Bonnie Blue Foundation and the Consalvo family behind the foundation.
“I’m very proud, she has a true heart and really wants to make a difference with her platform and her title,” Rankel’s mother, Patti, said. “I hope she ends up working with the youth and advocating for mental health awareness and early intervention and that she’s just happy in life — and if Miss America helps to get her there, that’s amazing.”
Rankel hopes to encourage others to consider taking part in a competition, because she said it has provided her an opportunity for confidence building, gaining interview techniques and how to dive into something you’re passionate about.
“It’s about getting involved, talking to people and teaching them about the Miss America organization and showing them it’s not this hard-to-touch thing, it’s something that anyone can really get involved with,” Rankel said.
