Bossier native talks up hometown, lays out goals for year
By Stacey Tinsley, stinsley@bossierpress.com
Newly crowned Miss Louisiana 2019 said she is incredibly proud to call Bossier Parish home.
Meagan Crews, 22, of Bossier Parish, was crowned Miss Louisiana 2019 at the W.L. Jack Howard Theatre in Monroe last month.
“To the community that I call home, Thank you! You have given me so much love, time and support my entire life. Being able to give back and pour that same amount of love, time, energy and support back into this community is such an honor,” Crews said. “I am so excited to be able to use everything that I have learned in my home and be able to spread that amount of love across the state and share that on the national level.”
Crews is a proud graduate of Parkway High School and a senior at LSU Shreveport (LSUS).
“This is home. It’s not just because this is where I grew up, there’s a sense of love whenever you come into our state. And at the end of the day, regardless of the differences in opinions and beliefs, we all still join together and stand strong,” Crews said. “I think that is what has kept us so unified for all these years. and that’s what really makes it home.”
While attending LSUS for her bachelor’s in marketing with a concentration in advertising design, she has been active in the Student Government Association serving most recently as SGA President. Following graduation from LSUS, she plans to pursue a doctorate degree.
“I will now take a year off from school, so I can perform my duties as Miss Louisiana,” Crews said. “It is worth the wait. My tuition is completely paid for and so is my graduate school because of the Miss Louisiana organization. It’s a huge relief, and a burden I don’t have to put on my parents.”
Crews will now travel the state promoting her personal platform, Northwest Louisiana’s YWCA LEAD (Leadership Empowerment And Development) Program.
The LEAD program, which has been implemented at YWCA of Northwest Louisiana in Shreveport, empowers adolescent and teen girls in areas with high crime, poverty and pregnancy rates. It helps them establish different skills such as communication, goal-setting, healthy relationships and cultural competence.
As Miss Louisiana, she hopes to act as an advocate and ambassador and bring the program to all of the YWCAs in the state. She said local title holders could serve in the mentoring program and share their personal platforms.
Ultimately, she said, it could show the young women what the Miss Louisiana Organization can do and open new doors for them to make a difference.
“That was my big thing — I’m not just going to go compete, I wanted to have a purpose. I want to do something that I believe in and that I know that I can really make a difference in,” said Crews.
She also serves as the official hostess for the State of Louisiana and spokesperson for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, Vantage Health Plan, Propane Dealers of Louisiana and the Louisiana Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.
Crews was Miss Louisiana’s Outstanding Teen in 2014.
Crews will now move on to compete in Miss America this fall.
