Emma Taylor of Pinehurst, N.C., was crowned Miss Moore County’s Teen 2027 on Sept. 26, 2026, at the Bradshaw Performing Arts Center.
Taylor takes the title with a community service initiative she built into a nonprofit. Battle Buddies: Supporting Military Veterans is a 501(c)(3) she founded to raise money for service dog grants, awarded to organizations around the country that pair the animals with veterans in need. She was raised in a military community by a father who served in the Army, and she says she saw as a child the effect that PTSD can have on service members.
“I felt a calling to pursue changing the way our country helps support our veterans to ensure every person who has served has access to the resources they both need and deserve,” Taylor said. From her own experience with service animals, she says, she wanted to help make them a certifiable tool for fighting PTSD.
The initiative has since grown beyond fundraising. Taylor brings classroom presentations on Battle Buddies to schools across the state, and she has taken up a legislative agenda in support of veterans’ rights bills in the U.S. Congress.
At an appearance she met John, a Vietnam veteran who had developed severe PTSD after his service, and who told her his service dog, Luna, had given him back the freedom to drive and to go out in public on his own. Service dogs like Luna, she says, provide comfort, support and safety to veterans across the country, “allowing the men and women who have fought for our freedoms to seek a second chance at life through recovery and rehabilitation.”
Taylor is a senior at Pinecrest High School and a dual-enrollment student at Sandhills Community College. She plans to pursue a bachelor’s degree in Political Science on a pre-law track, with the aim of writing federal public policy, particularly policy affecting the Department of Veterans Affairs. She has danced since she was three and mentors eighth-grade girls as a volunteer leader with WyldLife. In the talent category she performs a lyrical dance to “The Climb,” the song made famous by Miley Cyrus. She has held two previous titles in the Miss America Opportunity: Miss Moore County’s Teen 2025, finishing as first runner-up at Miss North Carolina’s Teen, and Miss Fayetteville’s Teen 2026, when she was a Top 11 finalist.
“Service is at the forefront of who I am as a titleholder and my life mission as a person,” Taylor said. “I am so excited for this upcoming year and the opportunity to serve my community in any way possible!”
Taylor will represent Moore County at the Miss North Carolina’s Teen competition in High Point in June 2027.
Taylor can be followed on Instagram at @missmoorecountysteen.
