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LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - Miss Kentucky 2025 Ariana Rodriguez has made history as the first foster care alumna to place in the Top 11 at Miss America, a remarkable achievement for someone who was living out of her car just four years ago.Rodriguez, who entered her first kinship home at age 5 and foster care at 12, had 20 different placements between ages 5 and 18. Her journey to the Miss America stage began with a desperate search for scholarship money after discovering she was ineligible for tuition assistance.“I was five years old when I entered my first kinship home, and I was 12 years old when I entered foster care,” Rodriguez said. “And then, of course, you’re handed the trash bag and really taken to a stranger’s house without anyone ever stopping to explain, you know, what’s going on or asking you how you feel about it. So it was very difficult.”From homelessness to pageant stageWhen Rodriguez was 14, she was reunified with her biological mother, who was homeless herself. They lived in an abandoned house for almost a year before Rodriguez made the difficult decision to leave.She was working 12-hour shifts, and she was trying to take care of my brother and sister,” Rodriguez said. “And so it was a mix between her not having enough money and it just being a really strained relationship from everything that had happened in my early childhood. And we just decided that it was best if I left. And so that’s when I lived out of my car.”Rodriguez lived in her car for two years. During her senior year of high school, she discovered she wasn’t eligible for tuition scholarships because she left foster care 26 days too early to receive financial aid.A chance encounter changes everythingDesperate for college funding, Rodriguez searched online for talent competitions, remembering earning money in middle school contests. She found the Miss My Old Kentucky Home Organization and spent all her college savings to compete in the local pageant.“And then I lost. And I was devastated,” Rodriguez said. “And a director came up to me. Her name is Kimberly Lyle. And she said, ‘If you want to go to Miss Kentucky, we’ll get you there.