Lauren Brooke Vance is a junior at UNA majoring in Chemistry with a concentration in Professional Health Sciences with plans to attend medical school and become a optometrist. Lauren was born and raised in Muscle Shoals, Alabama and graduated as valedictorian from Muscle Shoals High School in 2021. She is the oldest of 5 children, with 4 younger brothers. At the University of North Alabama, she is a member of the Cole Honors College where she has served as a mentor, an Associate Justice for the Student Government Association, a Disciple Group Leader for UNA Baptist Campus Ministries, and in the past has served as Freshman Forum Executive Chair and performed with the UNA Marching Pride Color Guard.
Lauren was crowned Miss University of North Alabama in January of 2023, where she additionally won the talent portion of the competition. Her community service initiative is entitled “The Two Hour Challenge: Trading Virtual for Value”, where she encourages students to take a two hour detox from social media each day and to instead spend that time in a valuable and meaningful way. She hopes to ultimately foster community across UNA’s campus and ultimately the state of Alabama as she prepares to compete in the Miss Alabama competition, and is dedicated to empowering students to remember their true value apart from their online image.
