BOWLING Green, Ky. —— The 2021 Miss Kentucky pageant featured 40 women from across the Commonwealth, all competing for the crown of Miss Kentucky title.

What You Need To Know

  • Haley Wheeler crowned Miss Kentucky 2021

  • The Powell County native attended WKU

  • Her social platform is called "A Stitch of Hope." She hopes to bridge the generational gap between youth and older Kentuckians

  • She will compete in the Miss America pageant in December

Haley B. Wheeler was recently crowned Miss Kentucky 2021 in the annual scholarship pageant in Louisville.

Wheeler is a native of Powell County and is a graduate of Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green and says she is ready to get the ball rolling on her social impact inaititve.

"My social impact initiative is entitled, 'A Stitch of Hope,' and it's dedicated initially to my great-grandfather who fought Alzheimer's disease for many years, and it's developed into just encouraging and bridging of generational gaps between the youth of Kentucky, and the elderly people of Kentucky, to encouraging community service in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. And making sure that those gaps between generations are bridged because I think, elderly people have a lot that they can give to the youth, and they can learn a lot from the youth as well and vice versa. There's so much knowledge and power that these elderly people possess, and I think that they will use that to learn from them as well. So that's something I hope to promote during my year as well as to Kentucky Proud initiative," says Wheeler.

Along with representing Kentucky in December's Miss America pageant, Wheeler also will serve as the official spokesperson for Kentucky Proud, thanks to decadeslong partnership of the Kentucky Department of Agriculture and the Miss Kentucky Organization.