Hoover 14-year-old crowned Miss Ultimate USA Junior Teen in Orlando

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Lucy Helland, a 14-year-old student at Bumpus Middle School, this past Sunday, July 21, was crowned Miss Ultimate USA Junior Teen at a national competition in Orlando.

Helland, who is going into the eighth grade this year, went to the scholarship competition as Miss Heart of the South Junior Teen and competed against 18 other girls ages 13-15.

The contest included a six-minute interview with judges (which accounted for 40% of each girl’s score), a runway walk (30%) and evening gown walk (30%). Helland also participated in a talent competition, casual wear session, fitness competition and House of Barretti model casting call. The top three contestants also had to answer a question on stage.

In addition to winning the overall competition, Helland was the junior teen fitness winner and overall senior division fitness winner. She also won the Dressing Dream Girl model competition and Supermodels Unlimited model competition.

Helland is a straight-A student at Bumpus and has completed more than 100 hours of community service. She is in her 11th year of dancing with the Alabama Dance Academy and is part of the Bumpus show choir. Helland also is a Peer Helper at her school and won the Youth in Service Award this year and was a Finley character award winner for her grade.

Helland has an initiative called Project 31:20 in which she focuses on helping Alabama foster children. She has already collected and donated more than 1,000 new pillows and more than 800 new blankets for foster children. As Miss Ultimate USA Junior Teen, her goal this year is to go to all the state pageants for Ultimate USA and host pillow drives to be given to foster children at Christmas.

In conjunction with winning Miss Ultimate USA Junior Teen, Helland received a $5,000 scholarship and prize package of trips and many gifts, her mother, Stacy Helland, said.