Written by: Mark Grant
Ashley Cariño, a current UCF student with a focus on aerospace engineering, also was just in the top 5 contenders of the 71st Miss Universe competition. Over the weekend of January 14th, Cariño placed 5th after competing successfully across multiple rounds in the pageant.
Cariño, who was born in Puerto Rico and moved to Kissimmee when she was young, competed in her first pageant in 2021 winning the Miss Florida title. Cariño placed third in Miss USA the same year that she won the Miss Florida title and before winning the Miss Puerto Rico title the following year. Cariño represented Puerto Rico in Miss universe.
Cariño has always been an aspirational individual, dreaming of working for NASA as a child, Cariño plans to continue her education by finishing her degree in aerospace engineering at UCF.
Cariño plans to get her degree even with her duties as Miss Florida which include empowering women and possibly visiting the hospital that treated her in her youth in order to support current patients there and spark their scientific curiosity which she mentioned doing after winning Miss Puerto Rico in 2022.
Fans have posted a video clip of her Miss Universe appearance on YouTube.
This story was reported on originally by Yahoo News and Cariño’s aspirational goals were published previously on UCF Today.
