(KNZA)--The winner of the 2014 Miss Indian World competition has ties to the local area. 

21-year-old Taylor Thomas was crowned Miss Indian World in Albuquerque, New Mexico during the 31st Annual Gathering of the Nations powwow last weekend. 

Thomas, of Fort Hall, Idaho, becomes the first Shoshone-Bannock tribal member to receive the honor. That tribal membership comes on the side of her mother, Wendy Farmer, but her father, and grandparents, reside in the Horton area, connecting her with local tribes. “I'm Shoshone-Bannock from Fort Hall, Idaho, in southeast Idaho, and my mother is enrolled Shoshone-Bannock and that's where I'm enrolled,” Thomas tells MSC News. “My father is Kickapoo and Potawatomi of Kansas. His name is Jason Thomas and my grandparents there are John Thomas and Bernadette Thomas.” 

Thomas spent many childhood summers visiting her family in Kansas, even attending the Everest Middle School during part of her 7th grade year.  “It was a short time, it was a semester and I played on the basketball team actually.  I made the A team there,” Thomas says with a laugh.  “There were two 7th graders that year that I was there, and we both made the A team. I still remember her name, her name was Jordan Harrison. All the girls there were so nice and so welcoming. I also played volleyball there and that was a lot of fun for me. Oh! That was my first school dance!  That was a good memory, a positive memory.” 

Now that Thomas wears the crown of Miss Indian World, she will serve as a cultural goodwill ambassador during her one year term, traveling to promote tribal and cultural traditions, representing indigenous people worldwide.  “Each Miss Indian World in the past has picked a platform, and my platform that I have selected [is] Native American pride or indigenous pride.  I would like to pinpoint specifically young Native American women and girls, like myself, to encourage them to know that we have strengths. Most of our tribal governments, and government today in itself, just different bodies in the workplace, they're run mostly by men.  We're still breaking through that glass ceiling and I would just like to encourage our young women to take that leadership role and I think being Miss Indian World is going to give me that extra boost I need to spread that message.” 

Thomas, who has, in the past, served as a National Congress of American Indian youth ambassador, is currently in her fourth year studying political science at Idaho State University.  “My ultimate goal is to work for our Indian people, not only my own tribe. Some of my biggest role models work for various tribes as an attorney, and I'm hoping to go to law school.” 

Thomas, who currently serves as the 51st Miss Shoshone-Bannock Queen was selected as Miss Indian World, following a competition against 22 other Native American women in categories including tribal knowledge, public speaking, personal assessment and dancing ability.