FLEMING ISLAND—After being crowned Miss St. Augustine in the Miss Northeast Florida Teen competition in December, Fleming Island High senior Cassandra Abboud will vie for the ultimate title of Miss Florida Teen. 

 Abboud, who was named Miss Fleming Island High last March, will advance to the state competition in June. 

 “It’s my first year in the Miss Florida Organization, but I’m honestly excited for it,” she said.  

 The Miss Florida organization was founded in 1935. Since its inception, it has awarded more than $45 million dollars in scholarships, including $1.1 million within the last five years, according to their website. It’s dedicated to helping young women pursue their dreams of higher education. 

 For Abboud, the competition will be more than just a beauty pageant, but a way to continue to shine a light on an initiative that she holds dear to her heart—Service Without Borders. The nonprofit focuses on providing health education and medical assistance to underprivileged communities, both locally and globally. 

 In her freshman year of high school, Abboud said her grandmother passed away from Stage 1 lung cancer. She was living in Lebanon and, in the throes of the Middle Eastern War, was unable to obtain the proper immunotherapy she needed.  

 “It was very difficult because it’s already a third-world country, so they weren’t able to access a lot of the healthcare they needed. And Stage 1 cancer, it’s very treatable. She should have been able to get over that. Unfortunately, because of her situation, she wasn’t able to,” she said. 

 Abboud said the mission of Service Without Borders resonated with her and fueled her passion to inspire change. So much so that, after graduating in May and already earning her AICE diploma, she will be headed to medical school. 

 “I just want to make sure that, specifically, people in my generation understand that this is an issue. Since we are growing up to be in these roles, we can make an impact here in our community,” she said. 

 And that’s not where her service stops. 

 As Miss FIHS, Abboud has taken part in various community service initiatives and projects around the community, including donating 88 pounds of t-shirts to Rethreaded— an organization dedicated to serving survivors of human trafficking. She also worked with The Bethel Church in Jacksonville, where she provided free school supplies for students.  

 “It’s nice to be able to give back to those communities like that,” she said. 

 Abboud said she has already begun preparing for the competition, which will take place in Lakeland. Her main plan: to talk about what she would do in the role of Miss Florida Teen. 

Because for her, the crown and sash are just surface. The deeper meaning lies in using her platform to spread positivity and change. 

 “My community service initiative has just been such an important thing for me. It’s been my motivating factor in these pageants. It would just mean a lot to be able to, I don’t know, maybe save someone else’s grandma. You know, make an impact on these families’ lives, just to make sure that nobody else has to go through what we went through.”