Honors liberal studies and education student Sarah Blum has been competing in local scholarship pageants for years. When she was crowned as Miss Linn-Benton 2019, all of her hard work paid off in a way that’s truly extraordinary.
“It was really surreal, honestly, because I’ve been trying really hard for five years to win one of these pageants,” Sarah says. “I almost cried. I didn’t think I was going to be one of those people who cried, but I almost cried.”
[aesop_image img=”http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/honorslink/files/2019/05/Blum-Body-Image-2.jpg” panorama=”off” align=”center” lightbox=”off” caption=”Sarah being crowned as Miss Linn-Benton 2019″ captionposition=”center” revealfx=”off” overlay_revealfx=”off”]
The crown Sarah now wears represents years of dedication and effort. Even as a very busy honors student taking well over a full-time course load, Sarah made time to give herself the best chance possible of winning.
“Starting in January, I attended practices in Eugene every single Sunday,” Sarah says. “I had to work on my piano piece for the talent portion – I’ve been playing piano for 14 years. There was a lot of prep at home as well, doing paperwork, reading up on current events, forming an opinion on everything.”
Sarah competes for the title of Miss Oregon in June, and now begins her year of service as Miss Linn-Benton. “I’m currently still doing interview practices, still practicing my piano piece, and I’m talking to some of my professors about things I can do for my platform,” she says. “I’m still feeling a little overwhelmed, but of course I’m incredibly excited to get started on my year of service.”
By Christopher McCracken: Student Media Writer, Honors College
CATEGORIES: All Stories Students