Justice Thompson Wins USA National Miss 2021

Justice Thompson is wearing her crowning achievement.

Thompson, a Krugerville resident, is the new USA National Miss 2021. She won the title on Saturday night at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, during this year’s USA National Miss pageant.

It’s not her first pageant, and it is not her first title. However, she said, it is the biggest title she has won.

“The day after I won, I actually got a phone call from last year’s Miss USA just basically congratulating me, and I mean it was insane,” she said.

Thompson said the title she won as USA National Miss is the most sought-after title in the pageant world aside from Miss USA or Miss America.

She has been competing in pageants since she was 7 and has held 15 state titles along the way.

Currently a student at Texas Tech, she graduated from Aubrey High School in 2018.

As the USA National Miss 2021, Thompson will receive a scholarship as well as trips, opportunities to model for the Ashley Lauren brand and a chance to promote her own causes.

“I get a $5,000 scholarship and that’s just for school, but I get over $100,000 dollars in prize packages, paid trips and visits,” she said.

However, trips and modeling will only be part of her reign.

Thompson said the national platform allows winners to choose their own charitable organizations or causes to promote that fall within the organization’s umbrella campaign of INSPIRE.

Their website explains it as, “INSPIRE is a program of UNM that inspires a lifestyle of service and encourages our delegates to focus on three initiative areas: inspire compassion, inspire kindness and inspire earth.”

During her reign, she said, the pageant system will allow her to pursue the causes in her personal platform, which is dubbed “commander kindness.” She plans to bring awareness to military families because she is part of a military family and understands the struggles they face. She also plans to focus on promoting kindness to oneself and others.

Thompson is still learning what her next year will look like.

“I won 48 hours ago, and so I’m still trying to figure out everything myself, too,” she said.

She said she does have an idea of what to expect because of her involvement in previous years.

Last year, she won Miss Texas. She then competed in last year’s USA National Miss pageant, placing in the Top Six.

“Once, I got off stage last year as Top Six, I was like, ‘OK, we are doing this thing,’ and started preparing ever since then,” she said.

At the end of her reign as Miss Texas, she was able to purchase the title of Miss Texas Heartland to be able to compete in this year’s USA National Miss pageant.

Thompson said she has been working on her interview skills and walking for most of the year. It included practicing with her

sorority sisters at Tech and even with regular customers at Upper Park as well as at home.

She received recognition for her interviewing skills at the pageant.

After returning from Florida on Monday morning at 1 a.m., she returned to her job at Upper Park Cafe in Aubrey and resumed her summer. In August, she will fly to Atlanta prior to the school year for her first modeling obligation.

She already has her sights set on competing for the Miss Texas USA title.

Plans for her future beyond pageants include her major in agricultural science.

“I want to be an ag teacher,” she said.

She has been involved in Future Farmers of America since she was in seventh grade and said it was her teachers who inspired her to pursue a career in the field.