Features Editor

Alecia Farmer is not the kind of person who can sit around doing nothing.

She wants to be going places and doing things. She wants to be in the midst of where things are happening. Better still, she wants to make things happen.

As the newly crowned Miss Troy, Alecia will have many opportunities to be in the midst of the happenings of her home community and beyond.

"I’m looking forward to representing Troy and being a part of the events and activities in our town," Alecia said. "Being Miss Troy is very exciting for me and everyone congratulated me and I think they were sincere."

Sincerity is very important to Alecia and it is a quality that she believes helped her to win the crown in Saturday night’s Miss Troy Pageant, which was her first-ever pageant.

"It was a completely new experience for me," she said. "Over the years, I have seen the winners of Miss Troy come and go and it was just something I wanted to do. I wasn’t out for the title. I was out for the experience."

Because she was not an experienced "pageant person," Alecia said she sought the advice of others as she prepared for the pageant.

"I needed help with the do’s and don’ts," Alecia said, with a smile.

She followed the advice of "don’t be fake" and "do be sincere" and was rewarded with the crown.

Alecia said her young life’s experiences should help prepare her for her reign as Miss Troy.

"I love to travel and I have been a lot of places and had opportunities to meet people from around the country," she said.

"I think that will help me in my duties as Miss Troy."

Alecia’s travels have taken her from Mexico to New York City and she found the excitement of the Big Apple to be her cup of cider.

"I absolutely love New York," she said. "There is such a variety of things to do and it’s so fast-paced. There is something going on all the time and you are there in the middle of it. I will go back."

The whirlwind pace of New York City and the political atmosphere of the nation’s capital are in sharp contrast, but Alecia found Washington D.C. to also be fascinating.

"I was there as a participant in the Presidential Classroom along with about 400 other students from across the United States," she said. "It gave me insight into how our government works. We got to go on Capitol Hill and meet some of the senators and that was exciting. It was a very rewarding experience."

In describing herself, Alecia said she is an outgoing person who enjoys the outdoors, likes to run, go to the gym, go shopping, spend time with family and friends and loves her hometown and its people.

"Troy is not really a small town, but then it’s not really a big town," she said. "It’s just the right size and the best thing about Troy is the people. I really mean that. I don’t care where you go, you’ll always get a smile back when you smile at someone. Troy’s a very friendly town and I’m proud to have the opportunity to represent it, at home and at the National Peanut Festival in Dothan in the fall."

Alecia in a junior at Charles Henderson High School and her plans are to, first, finish high school and then attend the University of Alabama and major in international business with minors in

broadcast journalism and Spanish.

On down the road, she hopes to combine her love of traveling with a position as CEO of a big corporation.

And, what would make it perfect, she said, would be if that corporation were close to the best people and the best town in the world – Troy, Alabama.

Alecia in the daughter of Barbara and Zeke Farmer of Troy.