THOMASVILLE — Miss Gwinnett County Aleks Arwood recently returned from the Miss Georgia Pageant, where she was named the runner-up, before Miss Northwest Georgia Sophia Wooten was crowned the winner for 2026.

For Arwood, the moment was a dream, as Wooten is a close personal friend and someone with whom she shared her title.

Arwood crowned Wooten Miss Northwest Georgia this past year, where the two instantly struck up a bond. They quickly talked about what it would be like if they were the final two at Miss Georgia, before vowing to take the stage by storm in June.

After arriving at Miss Georgia for preliminaries, Arwood was placed in the Gamma group, which competed in the interview round first, before talent, fitness, and evening gown.

“I like to start off big and end big,” Arwood joked.

For her talent, Arwood returned to her roots at South Georgia Ballet, where she took dance from age 7-18.

Dancing pointe to “Gold,” choreographed by Shea Sullivan, Arwood said the dance was an homage and thank you to the Miss America organization for the last four years and to the people who have helped get her there.

After a quick change, Arwood was back on stage for health and fitness, where she donned a red two-piece set, while a VoiceOver shared with the crowd what health looked like to her.

“I don’t have to look a certain physique that everyone might think of,” Arwood said. “I can still be happy with what I look like and don’t have to be skin and bones.”

Arwood would go on to win the Overall Health & Fitness Award before moving on to the evening gown portion of the competition.

Adorned in a 45 lbs., hand-beaded, red long-sleeved gown, Arwood graced the stage, where she was also named the recipient of the Preliminary Evening Gown Award and later the Overall Evening Gown Award.

“It was done by Keith Pittman at Lasting Impressions and Sherri Hill,” Arwood said. “They designed it a couple of years ago for Ellie Breaux, who was Miss Texas.”

Arwood recalled seeing Breaux’s dress at Miss America and called Breaux, asking if it was possible to wear a remake of the style.

“Hers initially had shoulder pads and different beading,” Arwood explained. “So, I took out the shoulder pads and put in different beading and made it my own, but I always tell people it’s not my own creation.”

However, Arwood said it’s by far one of her favorite gowns she has ever worn and is so thankful to Breaux for allowing her to make her vision a reality.

Following her preliminary night wins, Arwood was hopeful that she would return for the second night for another chance at the Top 15.

As name after name was called, Arwood told herself that she had done the best she could.

“It was kind of anybody’s game at that point,” she said. “The girls competing at Miss Georgia, the caliber of skill, the caliber of talent is off the charts. I was praying my name was called.”

Finally, her name 15- Miss Gwinnett County was called.

Arwood quickly took the forefront of the stage again, where she was given a word and had to explain what it meant to her in 30 seconds.

Arwood was prompted with the word “empowerment.” It was a word Arwood felt perfectly described her community service initiative, the Aveline Project, which empowers the next generation of young women.

“It was a little bit of relief, but then I had to go backstage and get ready for fitness and do everything all over again,” Arwood said. “You have to go compete; someone is going to be crowned.”

After the Top 15 had competed once more, they were brought back on stage, where the Top 5 were announced.

From that moment on, contestants have a complete blank slate.

“Your scores are completely wiped, and you answer one final question, and the judges rank you 1-5 based on what they’ve seen throughout the course of the week and how you could possibly act as the current or new Miss Georgia,” Arwood explained.

Arwood was questioned on how she would balance being an influencer in the Miss America Organization, while still being her own person.

“I talked about how Miss Georgia needs to be relatable and relate to every single person, and how social media can be a tool when it’s used correctly,” Arwood said. “You have the opportunity to reach an audience you never knew you had, but with that power, you need to make sure you’re doing good with it.”

Once the on-stage questions were complete, the Top 5 contestants held their breath as they waited to see who would be crowned Miss Georgia 2026.

For Arwood and Wooten, they had discussed and prayed for it to be the two of them left standing on the stage at the end of the night.

“It almost became a joke, not necessarily because it was funny, because we actually wanted it really badly, but it was more of how crazy would it be if this came true,” Arwood said.

As their dreams became a reality and it was just the two of them left on the stage, Arwood said she felt a sense of peace because she wasn’t worried about whose name was going to be called.

“I knew in that moment that if it wasn’t going to be me, Sophia was going to do the best job out of anybody, and I was okay with whatever was about to happen,” she said.

Arwood then heard her name called as runner-up, meaning her best friend is now the new Miss Georgia.

For Arwood, it is the best outcome, as she not only got to share that special moment with her friend, but she also received scholarship money as part of her runner-up win, allowing her to now pursue her MBA.

She hopes to attend Emory, where she can compete in the Miss Atlanta Pageant and hopefully make another run at Miss Georgia.

Georgia’s prekindergarten program for 4-year-olds is supposed to provide a free spot to any parent who wants to enroll their child.

But that universal guarantee has been voided by a shortage of classrooms in parts of the state.

Keisha Lance Bottoms, the Democratic nominee for governor, says she wants to fill that gap if she’s elected.

Blake Osborne, who lives in Cobb County, is among those who have struggled. He was facing paying $1,600 a month for prekindergarten for his 4-year-old daughter until she came off a waiting list at one of the six state-paid programs the family applied to.

“If it’s universal, that means there should be a spot for every kid,” Osborne said.

Bottoms’ plan calls for providing places for all 4-year-olds, financed by legalizing casino gambling. It projects spending another $330 million on pre-K, a 57% increase over the 2026 budget year’s $580 million. But even as Bottoms’ plan projects a place for every single child, it agrees with experts that not every parent will choose public pre-K.

The cost of childcare is an intensifying issue for Democrats. Last year, New Mexico became the first state to launch free childcare for most children from birth to age 13. In New York City, Mayor Zohran Mamdani made universal publicly financed childcare a cornerstone of his campaign.

“As a mother of four, I know every child deserves a strong start in school. Yet each year in Georgia, thousands of 4-year-olds are left behind,” Bottoms said in a statement. “Families face long pre-k waiting lists, and the program reaches only about 60% of eligible children. Faced with a months-long wait, many families are not signing up at all.

“My plan creates a dedicated, recurring funding source, without raising taxes, to ensure that every parent who wants their child to attend Georgia’s pre-k program has that opportunity,” she added.

Georgia was the first state to offer universal prekindergarten for 4-year-olds in 1995, after voters approved Gov. Zell Miller’s plan for a lottery, which also dedicates funding for HOPE Scholarships in college. But the share of Georgia 4-year-olds in prekindergarten plateaued, then dropped during the pandemic, and hasn’t recovered.

The Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning said an average of 3,862 children were on waiting lists during the last school year. It projects it will serve 57% of eligible students next school year.

“It’s not getting anywhere to what we would consider a universal program,” said Allison Friedman-Krauss, an associate research professor at the National Institute for Early Education Research. “We want to see those numbers in the 70s and the 80s to show that all children who want the program can have access to it.”

Both the Child Care Trust and the Center for American Progress have published analyses showing that Georgia, like other states, lack childcare slots.

Some of the drop in 4-year-old enrollment may come from changing parental preferences about sending their kids to school. Department of Early Care and Learning Deputy Commissioner Susan Adams said the department is studying family demand, but said older data showed spaces for 75% of 4-year-olds would meet demand.

Erica Boone sees the need for more capacity in Columbia County, where the state projects it will serve only 47% of 4-year-olds next year. That’s 11th-worst statewide.

Boone directs Cornerstone Academy in Martinez. Her childcare center began hosting a state-paid prekindergarten class last August.

Cornerstone previously offered a 4-year-old class with parents paying $245 a week. But many parents were withdrawing children to seek spaces in the state program.

“Honestly, they just can’t afford it,” Boone said. “But they still want their kids to have that great start.”

Now, the classroom is at the state-mandated cap of 20 and Cornerstone has five children on a waiting list. Boone said parents routinely call seeking spots.

Georgia has been spending more on pre-K, adding $100 million over a four-year period beginning in 2024 to reduce class sizes from 22 to 20, to boost teacher salaries and increase the number of classes.

Cutting class sizes means Georgia now meets all of NIEER’s quality benchmarks, becoming the largest state program to do so.

But Georgia must add 100 new classrooms yearly to maintain total enrollment while decreasing class sizes. On top of that, Adams said the state has been adding an additional 30 to 60 classrooms yearly to meet unmet demand.

Alisha Thomas Searcy is a former state lawmaker and CEO of the nonprofit Center for Strong Public Schools who advised Bottoms on her plan. She said the state needs to do more to prioritize capacity.

“They made a conscious decision to focus on the quality of the program rather than focusing on opening more seats, which is admirable, but it still doesn’t speak to the fact that there are kids who need access,” she said.

Bottoms’ plan calls for creating a space for every eligible child. But others say the level of need is more nuanced, with some counties having plenty of slots and parents unlikely to send every 4-year-old to school. Hanah Goldberg, director of research and policy for the Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students, said the picture is “complicated.”

“What you see, at least within the metro area, is that there are these pockets where we have supply challenges, but they’re spread all throughout the metro area,” Goldberg said.

To meet her plan’s estimated cost of up to $330 million, Bottoms calls for a state constitutional amendment to legalize and tax casino gambling, requiring a two-thirds vote in each chamber of the General Assembly and approval by a majority of voters. No casino gambling amendment has come anywhere close to passing in recent years.

Alternately, Searcy suggested the lottery could cover increased spending, as it has for the current improvement plan. Some Republicans voice worries about spending the lottery’s surplus cash, threatening the sustainability of existing programs.

But Searcy said the alternative is children going without quality care.

“For low-income families that can’t afford to pay for a quality private pre-K program, how do we make sure those children have access?”

Read more at GeorgiaRecorder.com.