On Thursday, April 22nd, Olecia James became the 95th Miss Alcorn State University 2021-2022 receiving 376 votes which clinched her the title.
James is a Junior Mass Communications major from Cleveland, Mississippi. She attended Eastside High School from 9th through 11th grade but due to consolidation within her school district her 12th grade year was spent at Cleveland Central High School where she went on to graduate 3rd in her graduating class with a 4.33 grade point average in 2018.
James’ next step in her life journey brought her to Alcorn State University in the Fall of 2018 as a Mass Communications major. While at Alcorn she has not set idly by resting on her laurels. She became a member of several organizations such as the Mass Communications Club, Girl’s Coalition, the IMPACT Community Service Organization, a Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) cadet, Lambda Pi Eta, National Honor Society for Leadership and Success, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, and an advice columnist for The Campus Chronicle (Alcorn’s online newspaper).
Although James had amassed numerous accolades in her academic career, she has always cared for and wanted to help her community. She decided to run for the title of Miss Sophomore to address the needs of her class but unfortunately she lost. Unlike most people, James didn’t wallow in self pity behind the loss but learned from it because she knew she had loftier goals. “I took the loss really hard but I began to prep myself because I knew I wanted to run for Miss Alcorn even before I came to the institution. I became more professional. I learned to hone in on my target audience better. I knew I needed a diverse campaign team, and I studied analytics and knew what time I needed to post on social media to reach more potential voters. Everything was strategically done from my theme to my platform,” stated James.
Once James had everything accounted for she threw her hat in the ring of candidates to become the 95th Miss Alcorn State University. Her platform consisted of increasing the involvement and awareness of arts in different cultures. James stated, “I wanted to make Alcorn an institution of inclusiveness. I wanted to make people open their hearts and minds to be receptive of music, language, and dances that differ from their native descent.”
As the new Miss Alcorn-Elect, James plans to use her platform to host diverse events which will involve the entire Alcorn community to share their various experiences which will allow them to learn from one another. After her reign as Miss Alcorn is completed and she graduates in the Spring of 2022, James plans on becoming a Judge Advocate Generals Corp (JAG) officer in the military.