What are your hobbies?
Working out; dancing; singing; playing with my neighbors’ children; volunteering at church, Camp Sunshine, Camp Providence, Vacation Bible School

What makes you special and unique?
I believe that in today's day and time, it is unique that I hope to have 7 children one day.

What is the best advice you have ever received?
My dad has always told me that anything worth doing, is worth doing right.

Name one thing you cannot live without.
I couldn't live without my black day planner.

What is the most valuable lesson you ever learned?
The most valuable lesson that I have learned is that at the end of the day, as long as I did my best, I succeeded.

Who is your most valued role model and why?
My grandmother is my most valued role model. She has overcome obstacles that most people would consider unthinkable. Throughout it all, she remained strong, respectable and classy; that is who I want to become.

What was your most unexpected moment?
My most unexpected moment was this year on Valentine's Day when I received a dozen roses from a young man that I had a crush on.

What is your workout routine?
Three days a week, I do squats, lunges, calf raises, ending with with cardio. Two days a week, I do abs and arms ending with cardio.

What has been your biggest accomplishment to date?
I believe that people go through life saying and doing things that touch other people's lives and never know it. If in any way, I have touched someone in a positive way, that would be my biggest accomplishment, and I won't even know it.

What is the best compliment you have ever received?
The best compliment that I have ever received is that I have a lot of personality.

What is your secret wish?
It's a secret!

What was your most embarrassing moment?
My first Monday of college, I fell in the Baptist Student Union, skinned up my big toe, fainted and hit my head on the bathroom counter, got a concussion, and woke up on the floor surrounded by all my new acquaintances.

What is your biggest guilty pleasure?
I think it would have to be a tie between a number 11 at McDonald's and peanut butter M&M's.

What is your favorite movie and why?
My favorite movie is a chick-flick movie named Lucky 7 because it is just a perfect movie to show exactly how unexpected love is.

What is your favorite color and why?
My favorite color is pink-light pink, dark pink, any pink. I just love pink because it is so girly and happy, and it's a good color on me.

What do you like to do for fun... relaxation... recreation?
I have so much for when I'm in my A&P II lab. For relation, I lie on my bed with candles lit and listen to Johann Sebastian Bach . For recreation, my roommate, Brooke and I really enjoy going to the gym.

What would be your dream vacation or destination?
My dream vacation would be anywhere with a beach, sand and sun. I absolutely love the beach. I would love to just lie on the the beach somewhere in a lounge chair and soak up the sun all day.

What do you like best about your hometown?
I'm from Summit and I love the small town atmosphere, our beautiful scenery, and I love being able to walk outside and see the stars at night.

What do you like best about the state of Mississippi, besides our food & hospitality?
The Mississippi that I love is all manners and chivalry, a wonderful Southern accent, assuming that everyone is in church on Sunday morning, and still saying yes mam and no sir.

What's in your CD player or on your iPod right now?
Right now, I'm completely hooked on Jason Aldean's new CD, Relentless.

Where do you see yourself in ten years?
In 10 years, I see myself married to a wonderful man, and us sitting on the front porch on a Sunday afternoon playing with our children and sipping sweet tea.

Who am I?
My name is Jessica Lauren Gibson and I live in Summit, MS and absolutely love it! I have an amazing roommate named Brooked and I don't know what I'd do without her. My life is just like everyone else's; there are great days and also bad days. I try to live life with the realization that it is way too short.

I attend Southwest MS Community College and plan to major in nursing. When I graduate, I plan to go to the University Medical Center in Jackson and specialize in Pediatrics because I love children speaking of children. I work with Brooke and also two ladies that have definitely impacted my life. I have a great family! My dad's name is L.H. and my mom is Rhonda and my brother, Noah, is 16. I attend church at First Baptist Church in Summit, where I am brave enough to be a teacher's assistant in Vacation Bible School for 4 year olds.

In conclusion, my life is just your average life with a few additives. I have a passion for children-special needs children, abused children, any and all children. I love people, I love all forms of community service (honestly) and I LOVE my community and state. Finally, always remember, you only have about a 100 years to live, so do something with it!

Tell us about your occupational experience.
I spent a couple of summers as a life guard and had a wonderful time playing with all of the children, teaching swimming lessons, and rescuing wayward swimmers. I spent the last semester of my senior year working at a dry cleaners and met many wonderful people and learned about responsibility (I wrecked my car and had to help pay for the repairs.) I also baby-sit any time that I get the chance to, especially if it's the 3 girls next door-they are my heart! Right now, I have the most AWESOME job! I work at the Suntone Club and get paid to answer the phone and talk to people. I also get to tan and get my nails done free! My boss is a wonderful, hard-working lady that is never to busy to answer any questions that may come up.

Tell us about your platform.
I have a passion for children. I have chosen Child Abuse Awareness as my platform because after I worked with abused children during my Summer mission trip, I wanted to make people more aware of how often abuse happens and the permanent damage that can be done. Many of the young children that I worked with had been abused so severely that they may never be able to trust an adult. How devasting that for many of these children, child abuse is 'normal' to them. I wanted to take them all home with me. I wanted to make sure that they never had to experience that kind of pain again.

Because I had such a wonderful childhood, I never imagined how it must feel to be abused. To never know if the very person you trust with your life, may take your very life. It's important to me to make people more aware of the existence of child abuse. Because for many of us, we've never lived with abuse and can't imagine that someone else does-maybe even someone we know.