The Miss Tennessee Volunteer Pageant will take place from July 22 through July 25 at the Carl Perkins Civic Center in Jackson, and it features several contestants who have ties to the University of Tennessee at Martin.
The reigning Miss Tennessee Volunteer herself, Meghan Poore, is a 2023 graduate of UT Martin with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree. She is the second Miss Tennessee Volunteer with a degree from UT Martin; Kerri Arnold, the winner of the first Miss Tennessee Volunteer Pageant in 2020, was the first.
Current UT Martin students competing in the pageant are:
• Chloe Goff, a senior health and human performance major from Bradford who is Miss UTM Volunteer, and
• Kiala Hampton, a senior veterinary science and technology major from Memphis who is Miss Weakley County Volunteer.
Both were crowned Sept. 14 in a pageant held in Watkins Auditorium on the UT Martin campus.
UT Martin alumnae taking part in the Miss Tennessee Volunteer Pageant are:
• Maleia Bigham of Turtletown, a 2026 graduate with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree who is Miss Memphis Volunteer;
• Karenna Rainey of Adamsville, a 2024 graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Health and Human Performance degree who is Miss Madison County Volunteer; and
• Allie Jo Shankle of Paris, a 2021 graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Science degree who is Miss Paris Volunteer.
Information about the 2026 Miss Tennessee Volunteer Pageant – including ticket information – can be found at misstennesseevolunteer.net.
For more information about UT Martin, visit www.utm.edu or call 1-800-829-UTM1 (-8861).
PHOTO: This year’s Miss Tennessee Volunteer Pageant will feature current UT Martin students Chloe Goff (left), the current Miss UTM Volunteer, and Kiala Hampton (right), the current Miss Weakley County Volunteer. Shown with them is the reigning Miss Tennessee Volunteer, Meghan Poore, a 2023 UT Martin graduate.
