Miss America Nia Franklin visits Atlantic City school

AMANDA AUBLE Staff Writer 

ATLANTIC CITY — Students at the Pennsylvania Avenue School lined the hallways wearing paper crowns coated with glitter and waving signs shaped like pageant shoes to welcome Miss America 2019 Nia Franklin Tuesday morning.

Franklin appeared at the school to speak to students at an assembly and to participate in their annual Thanksgiving turkey drive.

“The kids were just so excited and they seem to really have been looking forward to this with the decorations and their crowns, so it’s just a lot of love in the room, which is always a really great feeling,” Franklin said.

Principal La’Quetta Small said she was glad Franklin, who is the third pageant winner to visit the school in the past three years, could make it in time for the turkey drive.

“It’s just awesome that she has a chance to be a part of that process and supporting that initiative and giving back to the community and serving,” Small said. “That’s what we want our students to see.”

State Police have donated turkeys to the school for more than 15 years. This year, more than 100 turkeys were donated.

“I think it’s a great tradition to help others, especially during this time of the year,” Franklin said. “I’ve been on the other side of that kind of with my dad being sick and out of work for a couple of holiday seasons, and we had people reach out to us and help us. So it’s really great to be able to do that for other people.”

During the assembly, Franklin explained more about her role as Miss America and encouraged younger girls in the audience to follow her lead.

Franklin said the pageant’s $50,000 scholarship allowed her to fund her education. She studied music composition at East Carolina University and received her master’s degree at the University of North Carolina’s School of the Arts.

“I think it can be nice that I can actually speak to them directly about that possibility for them and encourage them and inspire them to actually compete for the job of Miss America,” she said.

Along with explaining her platform of improving arts education, Franklin promoted the Pennsylvania Avenue School’s newest attendance initiative.

“We’re just happy that she’s here to inspire, encourage and motivate our students and emphasize the importance of attendance, coming to school every day,” Small said. “If they’re not here, they can’t learn. That’s something we’re really trying to improve this year overall with our students.”

Franklin, who is a classical vocalist, also gave a short performance of “Hero” by Mariah Carey.

Franklin said she’s been busy in her new position, traveling to about 10 different states in the past two months. Still, she said she was happy to return to the city where it all started.

“It’s so nice to be back in Atlantic City. It’s always going to feel like coming back home in a way, because this is where it all started for me with me being Miss America,” she said.

Franklin will appear in this year’s Philadelphia Thanksgiving parade and will sing “Someday at Christmas” by Stevie Wonder. After, she will fly home to North Carolina to be with her family for the holiday.

Franklin will join the seventh annual Bay Atlantic City Symphony Holiday Concert Series on Dec. 8 at the Landis Theater in Vineland and Dec. 9 at Stockton University in Galloway Township, where she will perform “Ave Maria” and a rendition of “O Holy Night” in French.

https://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/missamerica/miss-america-nia-franklin-visits-atlantic-city-school/article_ef65441e-6404-56d2-9850-9f87f7c6adbe.html