Charlotte Elizabeth Rappe of Concord, N.C., was crowned Miss Central Carolina’s Teen 2027 on Oct. 3, 2026, at the T. Austin Finch Auditorium in Thomasville.
Rappe takes the title with a community service initiative she has built into a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Birthday Blessings runs community packing events where volunteers assemble birthday boxes holding cake supplies, decorations and party favors, and distributes them through food pantries, churches and domestic violence shelters across North Carolina. She chose the focus four years ago, she says, because birthdays have always been celebrated in a big way in her own family.
“I chose to focus on this often-unspoken need because a birthday is about so much more than a cake and a banner, it’s about making a child feel seen, valued, and worth celebrating,” Rappe said.
The partner organizations do more than hand the boxes out. Because they know their communities best, Rappe says, they connect Birthday Blessings with children she might not otherwise be able to reach.
One of those partners is The Lighthouse Children’s Advocacy Center in Gastonia, which asked for more boxes after distributing every one it had been given. That, Rappe says, is what told her the initiative was about more than a cake or decorations. “It is about bringing comfort, hope, and a sense of normalcy to children and families facing difficult circumstances,” she said. “Knowing that something as simple as a birthday celebration can make a meaningful difference continues to inspire me to expand our impact across North Carolina.”
Rappe is a sophomore at Cabarrus Early College High School, where she is dual enrolled and will graduate with both a high school diploma and an associate degree in Political Science. She plans to continue at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte for a bachelor’s degree in Political Science with a minor in Law, then at Campbell University School of Law, with the aim of working as a homicide prosecutor at the state or federal level. In the talent category she sings “No Good Deed” from the Broadway musical Wicked, a piece she chose for its dynamics and its emotion and because Wicked was the first Broadway show she saw as a child. Away from the title she reads, bakes and travels with her family.
She held the title of Miss Gaston County’s Teen 2026. Before that she held Carolina Princess and Carolina Star titles as a child, years she credits with sparking her passion for the organization and with building her into the young woman she is today.
Rappe will represent Central Carolina at the Miss North Carolina’s Teen competition in High Point in June 2027.
Rappe can be followed on Instagram at @misscentralcarolinasteen_nc.
