Alexa Schmidt, Miss University of Central Florida, on Saturday narrowly missed becoming the fourth UCF consecutive student to be named Miss Florida.<\/p>\n
Schmidt, a Jacksonville senior majoring in psychology, was the first runner-up to the new Miss Florida,\u00a0Laura McKeeman, a St. Petersburg TV sportscaster.<\/p>\n
Schmidt won $7,100 for being named runner-up and posting high scores in the preliminary talent, preliminary interview and newcomer-of-the-year categories.<\/p>\n
Two other UCF students made it to the top 11 finalists chosen from the 43 contestants: Jerusha Cavazos of Celebration, a junior majoring in musical theatre who holds the title of Miss South Florida, and Meagan Cartaya of Homestead, a sophomore majoring in advertising and public relations who holds the title of Miss Homestead. Each earned $750.<\/p>\n
Nine of the 43 contestants at the pageant in St. Petersburg were UCF students.<\/p>\n
The new Miss Florida will advance to compete for the title of Miss America early next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Alexa Schmidt, Miss University of Central Florida, on Saturday narrowly missed becoming the fourth UCF consecutive student to be named Miss Florida. Schmidt, a Jacksonville senior majoring in psychology, was the first runner-up to the new Miss Florida,\u00a0Laura McKeeman, a St. Petersburg TV sportscaster. Schmidt won $7,100 for being named runner-up and posting high scores […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":122,"featured_media":3566,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[13,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-psychology-departments"],"yoast_head":"\n