Your new Miss Rhode Island has made it her duty to serve her state while wearing both her crown and her Army uniform.

Sgt. Alexia Rodrigues, who also holds the title of Miss Warwick, was crowned Miss Rhode Island on May 11 at North Kingstown High School. After eight years in the Miss Rhode Island organization, Rodrigues clinched the crown and began spreading her two main messages: the need to recognize women in the armed forces and the desire to mend America’s foster-care system.

A Rhode Island native, Rodrigues briefly left the Ocean State to attend Syracuse University, where she was involved in organizations such as Students Demand Action and the Resident Housing Association. However, the online learning environment that plagued students in 2020 proved to be unsatisfactory for Rodrigues, who didn’t feel like she was making a difference while sitting at home.

In order to fulfill her desires to better the world, Rodrigues surprised her friends and family by joining the Rhode Island National Guard. Though she originally joined only part time, she obtained a job with the Guard where she could give back to the community, something that was especially important during the trying times of Covid-19.

Rodrigues’ commander, Lt. Col. Jarred Rickey, had this to say about the Miss Rhode Island winner: "I have always been inspired by people that succeed when they try difficult things. Lexi is one of those people. She is a fierce, determined, hardworking and empathic leader. These qualities are why we selected her to be a recruiter, and I am confident they helped her win Miss Rhode Island 2025. She has a very bright future ahead of her and I look forward to watching her win the Miss America pageant."

Rodrigues credits the National Guard with making her the person she is today: “The great thing about the military is that it doesn’t change you, but it makes you a better version of yourself.” While serving, she has worked alongside two former Miss Rhode Island winners, Col. Gloria Berlanga (Miss Rhode Island 1989) and Capt. Alexandra Curtis (Miss Rhode Island 2015).

About Rodrigues, Curtis said, “In the year in which she was in my unit, she was both influential in leading soldiers and being an influence for others.” Curtis said Rodrigues “has a very bright future ahead of herself.” Today, Rodrigues works as a recruiter. She is the first actively serving member of the Guard to win Miss Rhode Island.

The masculine stereotypes that come with being in the National Guard have not deterred Rodrigues from competing in Miss Rhode Island pageants. In fact, they only strengthened her drive. “My femininity and my leadership skills can coexist,” Rodrigues said. With the voice that comes with her crown, Rodrigues wants to spread the message that women can be in military service and that it does not make them any less of a woman.

Since the start of her pageant journey, Rodrigues’s main goal has been to advocate for reforming America’s foster-care system. Being moved around the system herself until age 7, Rodrigues has seen and experienced the many dangerous faults it harbors. She expressed how difficult it is as a child to not feel like you belong. “I wasn’t surrounded by people who had an experience similar to mine,” she said.

Due to this, Rodrigues has many issues that she plans to bring to light with the help of her crown and the audience it gives her. “That is my goal, to utilize the crown,” she said. She wants to be a role model and educate people on the foster-care system, as she has noticed a lack of knowledge surrounding the topic.

 While people tend to believe that adopting a child from another country is the best route, Rodrigues pointed out that there are more than 300,000 children in America who need a home and a family. Due to the neglect of children in the American foster system, they tend to age out of it before being adopted, leading to lives of homelessness, a lack of job opportunities and even incarceration. Rodrigues wants to advocate for policy reform and use her voice to uplift the silent.

As for today, Rodrigues has a packed schedule full of parades, events and preparations for Miss America. On top of that, she is planning to continue her education by taking online classes at West Virginia University, where she will study integrated marketing communications. Rodrigues is also writing a children’s book, “The Somewhere Kid,” about a child in foster care. She hopes that, upon reading it, America’s youth will garner a further understanding of the foster-care system at such a young age. As she moves into the Miss America competition, she is representing our state with pride.

“Rhode Island,” she said, “is small but mighty.”