![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/DSC01293-1Kennedie-1-scaled-1.webp?resize=683%2C1024&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nHer opening number ensemble included a pair of pants she found in her closet that she\u2019d owned for two years. She bought a bejeweled Zara top from Goodwill that only cost $4 but was missing a few sequins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not a problem for Clinton. \u201cI just glued on the sequins that were missing and sparkled it up more,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her talent gown was a dress she purchased several years ago on Queenly, a secondhand site for gently-used gowns that she wore when she was a contestant in the Strawberry Festival Junior Royalty Pageant. Her evening gown was given to her last year when she was the 2023 Florida Strawberry Festival Queen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Clinton spoke about her platform on her Instagram channel SustainableSmiles2024. \u201cI posted a reel about how I was able to stay sustainable with my fashion and still win,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Clinton, who received a scholarship and will move on to compete for the title of Miss Florida Teen on June 29 at RP Funding Center in Lakeland, is excited to carry her platform to the next level of competition. \u201cI\u2019m really excited to continue to stay sustainable at the Miss Florida level,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Five Miss America-certified judges crowned six contestants at the three-hour long pageant, including Miss Lakeland, Miss Lakeland Teen, Miss Polk County, Miss Polk County Teen, Miss Swan City and Miss Swan City Teen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The contestants were judged on a private interview (30%), fitness (20%), talent (20%), evening wear (20%) and on-stage question (10%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Plant City resident Emma Poole, a student at Florida Southern College, was named Miss Lakeland first runner-up. She also won the People\u2019s Choice award. <\/p>\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Poole-scaled-1.webp?resize=1024%2C1024&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nFor Poole, stepping on stage at the Polk Theater was a full-circle moment, having attended a Small College Basketball Hall of Fame tournament press conference there two years before where, as the only woman at the conference, did not want to speak up and ask a question to the panel. \u201cIt had been two years since that press conference, four years since I competed in a pageant and three years since I put on that dress, but it felt like it hadn\u2019t been a day,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel more heard and affirmed than I have ever felt after a pageant.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jennifer Chamberlain, Executive Director of Crowning Leaders, is excited for all the contenders moving on in the competition. \u201cI know they\u2019re going to do great,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got contenders.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In pageantry, people often spend thousands of dollars on their competition and appearance wardrobe. Durant High School senior Kennedie Clinton, who was crowned Miss Lakeland Teen 2024 on March 9… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43207,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"0","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[7897],"class_list":["post-43205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-kennedie-clinton-crowned-miss-lakeland-teen-2024"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43205"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43205\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43208,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43205\/revisions\/43208"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}