Clearly in a state of disbelief, Ali Hornung, 24, from Kingstown bested a field of talented and well-rounded women and took home the title of Miss Rhode Island 2024 in Providence on May 12.
“My mind is absolutely blown right now,” Hornung said, just moments after her crowning. “Just disbelief. I’ve been doing this since I was 17 years old.”
That was when she was competing for the Miss Rhode Island’s Teen title, in 2017. She did not place, and thought competing for the Miss crown would be too hard. She gave it a shot, however, in 2019 and earned second runner-up.
“I came back the next year, 2021, and placed 4th runner-up. I came back in 2022 and placed 3rd runner-up,” she said, adding that she took 2023 off while studying abroad, in Vienna, Austria. Her 2024 experience was a little different than in the past.
“This is absolutely insane,” she said, but added that she may have had some help from above, in the form of her friend, Ella, who passed away in 2019 from leukemia. Ella was the inspiration for Hornung’s foundation, Glimmer of Hope, of which Hornung is the CEO.
Ella had lobbied American Girl to make bald dolls for children undergoing cancer treatment. To date, Glimmer of Hope has given out 600 bald dolls.
Hornung said she visited with a medium last year, who told her that Ella would help her be crowned Miss Rhode Island 2024.
“I still didn’t believe it,” she said. “She told me Ella was placing a crown on my head. For me, it’s always about the metaphorical crown that Ella places on my head every day when I get to work with these kids. Ella was more like a little sister for me.”
Hornung graduated from the University of Rhode Island in 2023, having completed a five-year program with a triple major – international business, German and human development.
Among her plans for her year of service is to raise $75,000 for Glimmer of Hope, via a runway show, and to raise $15,000 for the Miss Rhode Island Organization.
Her disbelief, she said, is also in part because of the opportunities she’ll have to bring her CSI to the Miss America competition.
“It means that pediatric cancer gets to be recognized on a national stage,” she said. “It means that Ella’s name gets to be recognized on the national stage, and it means that a Jewish woman gets to be on the national stage, for the first time from Rhode Island.”
Back in the Ocean State, her plans have no limit.
“I’m going everywhere,” she said. “I’ve waited almost seven years for this. I’ve had plans. I’m going to do it all.”
Also crowned was the new Miss Rhode Island’s Teen, Payton Mays (not to be confused with Miss America’s Teen 2020 Payton May), 17, from Cranston. Mays competed in 2021, and returned triumphantly.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” she said. “I’ve worked so hard for three years, leading up to this moment, getting ready to compete again.”
“To me, it’s an opportunity to talk about what’s passionate for me, which is pediatric cancer,” she said, adding that she happens to be part of the Glimmer of Hope’s junior advisory board, so she’ll continue to work closely with her new “big sister.”
She is also part of the Tomorrow Fund, a group at her school, Cranston High School West, which has raised more than $3,000, and plans to help that group have another big year.
Once she graduates, she plans to get a degree in creative writing, but hasn’t picked a school yet.
“I’m excited to see what options are out there,” she said.
Competing in the national competition in 2025, Mays said, is exciting and something she plans to start working for right away.
“Now that I have this, I’m going to hit the ground running over the next few months, working with my family and the board at Miss Rhode Island’s Teen,” she said. “I’m going to be doing everything to lead up to that moment.”
For more information, visit http://www.missri.org.
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