ST. PAULS — The hometown of the 80th Miss North Carolina soon will display her name four times over.

Town leaders made a three-year commitment to proudly support its own former Miss North Carolina Victoria Huggins by displaying four signs with her name on them on two major highways that enter and exit the town, N.C. 20 and U.S. 301. One of the signs was unveiled Monday to Huggins’ family, friends, coworkers and St. Pauls residents at a reception held in the R.E. Hooks Community Center.

The signs will read “Home of Miss North Carolina 2017 Victoria Huggins.”

“The love and support that is in this room means the world to me,” Huggins said. “It was just wonderful to see people from all aspects of my life.”

Huggins, 25, was crowned Miss North Carolina in 2017. She went on to compete for the Miss America crown in Atlantic City, N.J. Afterward she continued her work throughout the state as Miss North Carolina.

She lived in St. Pauls for 17 years and remembers the town as having just two stop lights and a Piggly Wiggly.

“Never could I have imagined that something would have happened to me and that my town would want to honor me in such a special way,” Huggins said. “They wanted everyone to know who drove into town that this is where my home is, so it’s surreal and I keep pinching myself.”

St. Pauls Mayor Gerald Weindel said it was a no-brainer approving the signs for Huggins.

“We have a lot of people traveling through town and (N.C.) 20 is a major highway,” Weindel said. “A lot of people who don’t know, will know.”

The signs were installed Tuesday in each direction entering town east and west on N.C. 20 and north and south on U.S. 301. Buck Hall, who has known Huggins for her entire life and works with the Department of Motor Vehicles in Hope Mills, brought the idea to town nearly a year ago.

Hall said it was important to have the signs in town “to recognize someone who came from a small community and broke all the barriers.”

The signs were approved by the county and purchased by the town in July for about $2,500. Installation was halted because of Hurricane Florence.

“I never knew it was going to take a year but it was well worth it,” Hall said. “She set her goals, she had her vision and she went for it.”

Huggins’ mother, Beverly Huggins, said community support is what got her daughter to where she is today.

“The accomplishment is amazing, but the support from the community and the state and them loving her as much as they do just means so much,” she said.

Huggins is a graduate of The University of North Carolina at Pembroke. She has competed at the state level as 2013 Miss Fayetteville, 2014 Miss Central Carolina, 2015 Miss Greater Southeastern and 2016 Miss Wilmington. She was second runner-up in the 2015 Miss North Carolina pageant and was third runner-up in 2016.

She is pursuing her master’s degree online at Johns Hopkins University and works for the minor league baseball team, the Fayetteville Woodpeckers, which will be opening its new stadium, SEGRA Stadium, on April 13. Huggins will be the manager of media and community relations.

“We want to be a team that’s known just as much for our charity efforts and community involvement as we are baseball games won,” Huggins said. “Being on board with an organization like that, that’s really what I wanted to do.”

Tomeka Sinclair is a staff writer for The Robesonian in Lumberton.

The Robesonian Victoria Huggins, 25, was crowned Miss North Carolina in 2017. She went on to compete for the Miss America crown in Atlantic City, N.J.
https://www.laurinburgexchange.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_web1_Huggins-wins_1.jpgThe Robesonian Victoria Huggins, 25, was crowned Miss North Carolina in 2017. She went on to compete for the Miss America crown in Atlantic City, N.J.

Tomeka Sinclair

The Robesonian