Help Abigail in Miss Universe GB ambition
Strath finalist wants to highlight women’s health
A Strath student has made it into the finals of Miss Universe GB.
Muthill’s Abigail Johnston, a fourth year medical student at Dundee with a First Class BMSc in Medical Education, is among those up for selection to represent Great Britain in the Miss Universe contest.
The global competition is now more than 50 years old.
Contestants from around 80 countries compete for the title each year.
However, nowadays the global contest for women is a far cry from the beauty pageants of yesteryear, with candidates judged on their achievements and charitable work more than their looks.
Abigail (22), who co-founded the ‘Bridging the Gap Academy’, which provides courses for medical students and doctors, aspires to become a breast surgeon and start her own charity providing healthcare and education, focusing on women and children in areas of the world that require it most.
She told the Herald: “I’m the kind of person that likes doing new things and challenging myself. I saw the competition on social media and thought I would apply for it. I didn’t think I’d be accepted but thought it would be a fun experience.
“There is definitely a big shift in the focus of the competition. Such a big part of it now is the advocacy that you do or projects that you want to choose as your legacy. It has definitely changed a lot.
“I’ll be happy with whatever the outcome is as I have enjoyed the process.
“I suppose it’s not about me winning as such but having that platform for talking about issues.
“A lot of what I do is based around education.
“I would really want to go into the health education side of things if I was given a bigger platform
“Something that is important to me is female health in particular. There is a lot of stigma surrounding that and often a lot of women don’t know about themselves and their own health as it is not something that is taught in schools much. That is something I want to focus on – female anatomy, contraception, the menopause – all these different subjects that affect so many people but aren’t discussed.”
Abigail has her own YouTube channel and podcast – ‘ Voices’ – where she interviews women from different backgrounds.
She continued: “I started it because when I was looking at other podcasts often the people interviewed are considered to be really successful but I don’t think that is always relatable to everybody. I think success is different for everyone – for some it might be being a mum, for some it might be just getting out of bed,for some it might be running a business. I wanted to have a space where lots of people can relate and also talk about important issues.
“Last week I had a gynaecologist speaking about gynaecological cancers.”
The former St Dominic’s and Morrison’s Academy pupil paid tribute to her former teachers.
A keen member of Morrison’s debating team, Abigail debated competitively for six years, winning Durham’s National Novice Competition and representing Scotland at international level.
She said: “What helped me find the confidence to speak up was being part of the debating team.
“I had two coaches – Mrs Boal and Mrs Lafferty [at Morrison’s] – who were amazing and taught me to be confident in my opinion, which helped me amplify my voice so in a way ‘ Voices’ is a way for me to help amplify other people’s voices.”
Abigail is also involved with collecting books for Books Abroad and has amassed over 1000.
She is now collaborating with Morrison’s to collect even more for the charity.
I would really want to go into the health education side of things if I was given a bigger platform
The voting system includes a People’s Choice section and you can vote for Abigail before the closing date of October 15 by going to www.missuniversegb.co.uk