In just a few short weeks, 2015 Miss Mississippi Hannah Roberts will step into the next phase of her life.

The 23-year-old will turn in her crown for a white coat and begin her studies at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, where she plans to specialize in pediatric plastic surgery.

Roberts said she is looking forward to starting medical school, and feels like in addition to the rewards she has received serving as Miss Mississippi, being the state title holder has also afforded her some “incredible” opportunities — ones that may have strengthened her desire to become a doctor and even helped prepare her for a career in medicine.

“Before this year, my parents and I were talking about the what ifs, if I did win Miss Mississippi, was I going to take a year off of school and would I be behind and all that,” Roberts said, “but now it’s kind of been an ongoing joke that my mom says this year was Hannah’s bedside training year.”

“Being Miss Mississippi has taught me so much about making relationships with other people and being personable. I was a bio-chem major in college, and I did not do PR and communications, so I did not inherently have those skills.”

Roberts recalled many of her visits to the Blair E. Batson Children’s Hospital in Jackson and spoke tenderly about one very special child and the impact she made on her life.

“Very recently, I got to do a makeover for a child.”

Roberts said she was at a Batson birthday party and over heard the staff talking about this one particular little girl, who was on end of life care.

End of life care is when treatment is no longer administered, and a child is merely kept comfortable, and if possible, receives “wishes.”

“So many of these kids spend their entire life in hospitals and this particular child had never gotten to eat fast food, and she wanted to go to Penn’s (Restaurant.) She also had never gotten to shop for clothes for herself, because she wasn’t allowed to go in public stores,” Roberts said, adding that because she was on end of life care she had been given the opportunity to have her wishes.

“This little girl was also big into makeup,” Roberts said, “and I got to give her a makeup tutorial, which is something that is so small, and a thing that I do to myself every day.”

Roberts said the little girl was thrilled and especially that Miss Mississippi was giving the lessons.

“I think that made a huge impact on who I will be in the future as a physician,” Roberts said, “because those patients are no longer just someone that has a diagnosis or sick. This is someone who is dealing with an illness every single day and this is their reality.”

Making a difference in the lives of children did not stop with visits to Blair E. Batson. Roberts was also able to donate 40,000 new and gently used books to schools, libraries and hospitals across the state for her platform Pages of Love.

“I did not know I was going to be that platform intensive this year, since there was going to be so much travel, (more than 45,000 miles) but thankfully all the places that I have visited have shown up with books in hand for me to donate.”

One of the more unique events Roberts attended, she said, was sponsored by the Mississippi Air National Guard in Pearl and the Salvation Army.

Roberts along with 60 underprivileged children in Jackson took a trip to the North Pole.

The simulated flight took Roberts and the kids to “Santa’s Private Hanger,” and there they met elves and received gifts from Santa.

“The hanger is completely decorated like the North Pole with Santa and elves and these children completely believe they are at the North Pole,” Roberts said.

More highlights of Robert’s year of reign included speaking at the University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Park campus commencement, rappelling more than 140 feet down the Trustmark building in Jackson and of course being named first runner up to Miss America.

“It seems like a lifetime ago at this point,” Roberts said of the competition held in Atlantic City.

“Those are probably the two weeks that are most memorable of the whole year. That was such a special time. It is just an honor to get to go to Miss America to begin with. I could have been number 52 out of 52 women and been just as happy to be there,” she said.

“It is really not that much of a competitive atmosphere (at Miss America) because everyone realizes how lucky they are just to get to that point, and the friends I made there I am still in contact with every day. Some of my best friends came from Miss America. They were all mostly the Southern girls who were in the top 15, and so it was a special thing to do finals night with your group of friends you made that week.”

Tonight, Roberts will crown her successor and relinquish her title. Though bittersweet, the Mount Olive native said she looks forward to getting back to a routine.

“I am looking forward to having a set schedule,” she said, adding that as Miss Mississippi on some days she would have to rise at 3 a.m. while on others she could sleep until noon.

“Every day is so incredibly different, which is fun, but I really enjoy schedules and that is something that will definitely come with medical school.”