An East Yorkshire teenager became the youngest ever Miss England finalist last year and now heads international charities.
Jennifer Carless, now 17, of Gilberdyke, entered the Miss England 2021 competition after her GCSEs were cancelled due to lockdown. She was inspired to enter because she wanted to prove that you don’t have to be a “perfect” Instagram influencer to get these opportunities and a “normal girl” could use the competition as a chance to do something good.
She is the youngest ever competitor to reach the finals of Miss England and has since partnered up with several charities that support causes such as climate change education, the NHS and international humanitarian aid, as well being a huge advocate for sign language. Jennifer dreams of becoming a surgeon one day and will study biomedical science at the University of Hull.
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The Miss England finalist has recently toured to Pakistan after being awarded the “Gatrad Travel Bursary” for her charity work. She travelled with the charity OPSA (Overseas Plastic Surgery Appeal), a Hull based charity which went out for their 49th Annual Cleft camp to the World’s first dedicated Cleft Hospital in Pakistan.
Jennifer was able to support the Cleft camp and saw first-hand the incredible work for the UK surgical team including Mr M Riaz, one of the top plastic surgeons in the UK. Whilst Jennifer was in Pakistan, she visited schools and educated the children about the work her WASUP charity does in highlighting the dangers of single-use plastic.
© Jennifer Carless
Jennifer is the youngest contestant to make it to the Miss England finals
She also attended the University of Gujrat and gave a lecture to Environmental students on Climate change and how the world can take steps to protect the environment. She said: “It is really important to me to spread knowledge about climate change, as it is something I am passionate about.
“Before I went, I did a course on plastic waste to make sure all …….