Miss Florida 2009

Rachael Todd, a spring 2009 UCF graduate, won the Miss Florida pageant July of 2009 and competed in the Miss America pageant in January 2010.

Todd, a Communications major from Oviedo, focused her pageant platform on “The End of Homelessness in America.”

At UCF, Todd was vice president of membership for the Kappa Delta sorority and a member of the Delta Epsilon Iota and Rho Lambda honor societies. She also served on a campus Hunger and Homeless Awareness Committee and was a featured speaker at a campus hunger banquet. After the banquet, she organized a volunteer day for 80 UCF students at the HOPE Foundation’s facility.

Todd, 22, qualified by winning the Miss Suncoast crown. Joining her in the competition were 45 other young women from around the state, including six other UCF students and recent alumni: Dasha Gonzalez, Sara York, Danielle Mueller, Mandi Jo John, Tara Szczepanski and Jaclyn Raulerson.

Todd is UCF’s first Miss Florida winner since Ericka Dunlap in 2003. Dunlap, an Advertising and Public Relations major, went on to win the Miss America crown.   “Our UCF women did an excellent job of competing in this year's Miss Florida pageant,” said Veronica Livesay, co-executive director of the Miss UCF pageant. “Rachael Todd worked very hard this year. With her amazing Irish dancing and her passion for her platform, I know she'll do a great job of representing UCF and Florida at the Miss America pageant next January.”

Rachael hit the ground running as Miss Florida and within one week of being crowned she landed in Washington, D.C., to attend the National Alliance to End Homelessness’ annual conference.

 In addition to being an ex-oficio Board Member for the Florida Peer Network and the youngest nominee for the 11^th Annual Outstanding Service to the Homeless for the state of Florida, Rachael has personally presented to over 30,000 people about preventing hunger and homelessness in America.

 Rachael’s mission is fueled by her work with HOPE Helps, Inc., a Florida non-profit agency founded by her parents that provides Housing, Outreach, Prevention and Education for families on the brink of homelessness and facing homelessness, especially those families where children are involved.

 During her tenure as Miss Florida, Rachael formed a partnership in perpetuity with The Everglades Foundation, a grass roots organization that aims at promoting the restoration efforts of the Florida Everglades, raising awareness of the importance of the preservation of the world’s most unique ecosystem.  In May of 2010, Rachael served as delegate at The 1^st Annual America’s Everglades Summit in Washington, D.C.

 In March of 2010 Rachael officially launched her program entitled “Miss Florida’s Millennials.”   Rachael is inspired by her generation, The Millennials, who are regarded as “The Next Great Generation.”   She believes that “service to others is an innate part of who we are.”  She produced an online public service announcement to address the students and officially presented this program to the students of Florida on March 22^nd, 2010 at the Florida Learn and Serve – Raise your Voice for Service Learning Conference in Tallahassee, Florida.

 This past June Rachael set a goal to plan and host the 1^st Annual “Miss Florida’s Birthday Bash” to prevent hunger and homelessness. The event was an incredible success. With over 250 guests, 45 of the Miss FL contestants, 8 restaurants providing food, Ed Roland of Collective Soul, Brandon Kinney, Wynn Varble and Chris Cavanaugh providing musical entertainment, it was a night to remember. Todd recalls, “Through out my year I consistently reminded myself that I had 365 days to make the most impact, this event at the end of my term is just the beginning. I’ve learned that I’m capable of more than I ever imagined.” At the end of the night, $10,000 was raised and distributed to the 8 Feeding America food banks in the state of Florida, The HOPE Foundation, and Hands on Nashville. For more information on this event www.MissFloridaGivesBack.org