Miss Mississippi Emmie Perkins shares ‘Music is Medicine’ in Lamar Co.

PINE BELT, Miss. (WDAM) - Full excitement filled the air at Longleaf Elementary School in Oak Grove Tuesday morning, as Miss Mississippi, Emmie Perkins, returned to her stomping grounds of Lamar County.

Now that Perkins is home from Miss America, she’s back highlighting her learning initiative, “Music is Medicine,” full-time.

Perkins expressed she’s a big advocate for incorporating music into classrooms to keep students engaged.

“So we read ‘Pete the Cat,’ and we do a little exercise with that,” said Perkins. “For the older students, I incorporate social and emotional learning into their curriculum with ‘Music is Medicine’ because I feel like it’s important to use the arts to check in on the well-being of a child. Then, at the very end of every program, we get the plastic maracas and shake to “Happy” by Pharrel Williams because music makes us happy.”

“I remind students music can bring us out of some of the darkest situations and it can really brighten your mood when you’re having a rough day.”

If you remember, WDAM 7 reported Perkins plans to visit a school in all 82 counties across the state. So far, she’s made her stop at 17, interacting with 5,000 students.

Perkins shared that her program, ‘Music is Medicine’, got recognized on a national level while at Miss America in December. She said the overall Miss American experience was one to remember, even winning a $10,000 scholarship for college.

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