Johna Alexandria Edmonds was recently named Miss Tarheel 2011. Her platform is Readers to Leaders: Promoting Literacy in America’s Youth.

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CHAPEL HILL — Johna Alexandria Edmonds, a Lumberton native, was recently named Miss Tar Heel 2011.

She will compete in the Miss North Carolina Pageant on June 25 at the Meymandi Concert Hall in downtown Raleigh. She will be vying for the crown along with 32 other state representatives.

Edmonds is a senior at North Carolina State University, where she is pursuing a bachelor of science degree in Accounting with a concentration in Financial Analysis and a minor in Spanish Language and Literature. She is an active member of Alpha Kappa Psi, professional business fraternity; Beta Alpha Psi, accounting fraternity; the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, and the Golden Key International Honor Society.

Edmonds has taught English in the Dominican Republic and studied abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in a Spanish language-intensive university for a semester. Upon completing her undergraduate degree, she plans to continue her studies to earn her masters of Accounting and work for one of the nation’s Big Four accounting firms.

Her platform is Readers to Leaders: Promoting Literacy in America’s Youth, which promotes service projects that educate not only students, but also teachers and parents, on the importance of literacy among our nation’s young people. Since adopting her platform, Johna has coached the Battle of the Books at Littlefield Middle School, which placed first in its division at the local competition; served as a weekly mentor with the Community Hope program through the YMCA of Raleigh; spearheaded a literacy drive to donate 1,600 books to both UNC Children’s Hospital and Duke Children’s hospital collectively; organized a children’s reading event that promoted literacy awareness in commemoration of Dr. Seuss’s birthday; and served as a weekly reading buddy at Hunter Elementary School to first-graders.

Edmonds, a former Junior Miss Lumbee, Miss Fayetteville’s Outstanding Teen and Miss Lumberton Senior High, is a singer and will perform her rendition of “Feelin’ Good” for the talent competition.

A 2007 graduate of Lumberton High School, she is the daughter of John Edmonds of Overland Park, Kan., and Faye Carter of Lumberton.