Miss Texas is a Frog.

Competing for a fourth time, senior broadcast journalism major and Miss Fort Worth Ashley Melnick was crowned the winner of the 75th Miss Texas pageant over the summer.

With the new title, Melnick will take a year off from TCU and tour the state to visit schoolchildren, warning about the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse. She also will promote The Voice of Autism, her official platform.

In the meantime, she will prepare to represent the Lone Star State at the 90th Miss America Pageant on Jan. 15 in Las Vegas.

In addition to fitness training, Melnick said she will also work on her mock interview.

“Being able to speak and experience people is really a growing process having this title,” she told the TCU Daily Skiff. “I have seen a difference in myself; I’m more comfortable speaking and being around people.”

Melnick wasn’t the only Horned Frog on stage at the pageant. In fact, TCU also was represented by the first-runner up, Jordan Johannsen, a senior business major and Miss Irving.

Finishing in the top two spots together made the occasion sweeter, said Melnick, who was a roommate of Johannsen’s at TCU.

“I knew at that point, regardless of what happened, we were proud of each other, and we loved each other,” Melnick told the Skiff. “We had prepared together and pretty much motivated each other for the whole year.”

Two other TCU students also placed in the top-eight: sophomore biology major Kendall Morris (fourth) and freshman business major Allison Seward (eighth).