Kadance Fredericksen, an 18-year-old contestant in Miss Florida Teen USA 2024, tragically died in a car accident just three minutes from her home in Florida on 17 February.
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, her vehicle collided head-on with a tractor-trailer.
The pageant queen was pronounced dead at the scene, while the other driver sustained minor injuries.
Fredericksen overcame a childhood of homelessness and an abusive mother, experiences that inspired her to create her own advocacy, Kada's Promise.
The program helps children in foster care, homeless shelters, abuse shelters, and hospitals by providing them with teddy bears and blankets.
“During many dark times in my early childhood, the only thing that I could call my own or that made me feel safe was a single teddy bear that I received as a gift,” a statement on her website read.
In 2017, after gaining custody with her biological father, Fredericksen’s stepmother officially adopted her.
Fredericksen, who won Miss Okaloosa County Teen US and became a delegate in Miss Florida Teen USA 2024, was a high school student at Baker High School.
She had been accepted into nine universities and had hopes of becoming a veterinarian, according to her family.