INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — One special pediatric nurse won’t be at Riley Children’s Hospital on Sunday, as she’ll be representing Indiana in Sunday night’s Miss America pageant.

Fort Wayne native Cydney Bridges competed for the title of Miss Indiana three times before finally winning in 2023. Now, she is in Florida for the 96th edition of the Miss America pageant.

“(This) just never felt like my reality,” she said. “I struggled to believe in myself. I have self-confidence issues, I struggled in school – I always saw Miss America, I watched it on TV, but never really had the dream to compete not because I didn’t want to, but because I didn’t think I could.”

Bridges says she always knew she wanted to go to college to be a nurse, but as the youngest of four kids with an uninvolved father, it was hard knowing that college might not be in her future.

“I’ll never forget when I was 16 years old, my mom said, ‘Hey, there’s no money for you to go to college.’ That was hard,” she said.

But through taking part in Miss America, she was able to win several scholarships to help fund her higher education. “To take part in Miss America and to have won over $20,000 in scholarships…means the world to me, and I’m forever grateful.”

The City of Fort Wayne honored Bridges with a proclamation, saying that she continues to help train and lift up other young women throughout Fort Wayne and Indiana through her social impact. Bridges says she’s the first Hoosier to ever wear braids on the stage, and doing so is breaking barriers in the state.

“I wanted to be the girl in indiana that paved the way you don’t have to have straight hair,” she said.

Bridges’ coworker at Riley, Kaylee Shirrell, says she knows Bridges will be able to change so many lives.

“She just has the potential to have such a positive impact on kids at Riley, especially with her message of overcoming obstacles. She definitely has the ability to impact a lot of lives,” Shirrell said.

The new Miss America will win $60,000 in scholarships. Bridges says she hopes to use the money she earns to become a nurse practitioner and help students on a grander scale.