Passionate about her platform for the Miss Mississippi’s Outstanding Teen Pageant, Miss Pearl River Valley’s Outstanding Teen Addison Mathis plans to incorporate it into every aspect of her competition by wearing a yellow evening gown, sports wear and dancing to song with yellow in the title.

“Everything I am doing on stage wraps around my yellow ribbon campaign for my Service for Soldiers platform,” she said.

With a platform focusing on veteran’s awareness, Mathis likened her yellow ribbon campaign to the days when yellow ribbons were tied around trees for returning soldiers.

Mathis is a rising senior at St. Aloysius High School, and she said has been speaking to other teens about the difficulties soldiers face when they return from war.

“The three main points I am making about soldiers who are making the transition back into society are hopelessness, which covers mental disabilities like PTSD, helplessness, which leads to unemployment from mental disabilities, which can then cause homelessness,” she said.

“If we don’t bring awareness to my generation, then we will never know what the upcoming problems of our military will be,” she said.

Mathis said one of the factors that led her to take on this platform is that her father was a veteran.

Mathis said in addition to talking to teens about the obstacles veterans face, she has also visited the Eagles Landing in Alabama, which is a transitional home for veterans.

“I got to meet so many veterans that are homeless,” she said.

She has also started a club with the same name as her platform, Service for Soldiers, in her high school, she said.

In conjunction with promoting her platform, Mathis has been preparing for the Miss Mississippi’s Outstanding Teen Pageant by studying for the interview phase and working on her talent.

“My talent is kind of different. I am doing a hip-hop dance, and I have been working on it for a couple of hours each night at the YMCA,” she said.

Mathis is involved in many clubs and school activities, which include being co-captain of the Flashettes, St. Al’s dance team, Key Club, and the choir and theater programs. She is also a member of three local social clubs and has volunteered during for the Service Over Self mission project, and she is a member of the Vicksburg Performing Arts Company.

Mathis said she wants to wait and see how this year goes before considering becoming a contestant in the Miss Mississippi Pageant.

“I think being in the teen pageant has given me preparation not just for the Miss Mississippi Pageant if I decided to compete, but it has also given me preparation for life. Participating in the teen pageant is a lot harder than it looks,” she said.

Preliminary competitions for the Miss Mississippi’s Outstanding Teen Pageant are scheduled for Thursday and Friday night at the Vicksburg Auditorium, 901 Monroe St., with the final night of competition and crowning will be held Saturday.

Autograph signings are scheduled from 9:30 to 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Outlets at Vicksburg and from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Friday along downtown Washington Street.

All competitions begin at 8 p.m., and tickets are $25 for the preliminary competitions and $40 for the final night.

Student tickets and seating only will be available at the door, and the cost is $15 for the Thursday and Friday competitions and $20 for Saturday. ID is required.

For tickets and more information, call 601-638-6746.