Memory of a lifetime: Hilton Head girl, 12, takes national pageant crown

A young woman from Hilton Head Island will wear a national pageant crown for the next 12 months, representing the area and South Carolina as she travels the country talking about bullying awareness and prevention.

Taylor Hughes, 12, daughter of Robbie and Michele Hughes and a rising seventh grader at Sea Pines Montessori Academy, was crowned USA National Miss SC Preteen in February. On Saturday, she was crowned USA National Miss Preteen at the organization’s culminating pageant in Boca Raton, Fla.

“She’s very excited,” Michele Hughes said. “(After the crowning) she said she was in shock but very proud of herself. She worked hard for several months preparing.”

Hughes, herself a former pageant competitor, said she was a flood of tears.

“That was the most emotional experience I've had,” she said. “She beat me. The best I ever finished was fourth runner-up (in a national teen pageant).”

Taylor has been competing in pageants for the last two years. She is so far the only USA National Miss competitor to bring a national crown back to South Carolina.

Her first big event as USA National’s preteen queen will be a trip to Atlantic City to watch the Miss America pageant. Then the real work begins. USA National’s social program is “Crown CARES," an anti-bullying platform. As the preteen ambassador, Taylor will travel around talking to other children aided by handouts, books and games.

“At the contract meeting, (Taylor) said she was ready to work hard,” Hughes said. “She wants to leave a good legacy with her year of reign.”

Taylor is an honor student, president of the Junior Beta Club, a Hilton Head Rotary club Student of the Year recipient and member of Ridgeland’s All-Star Panthers Cheer Gym. She has volunteered for The Salvation Army, the Hilton Head Humane Association and area nursing homes, and she collects toys to send to the Palmetto Health Children’s Hospital in Columbia.

This story was originally published July 21, 2016 at 3:57 PM with the headline "Memory of a lifetime: Hilton Head girl, 12, takes national pageant crown."