Miss Arkansas 2014 Ashton Campbell visited the Oaklawn Rotary Club on Monday to elucidate how pageants have benefited her and why she chose to advocate for higher education for her platform.
Campbell was featured as Monday's speaker for the weekly meeting of the club at the Austin Convention Hotel & Spa. She was introduced by Rotarian Martha Rodgers.
"I remember being in high school and hearing about those really dignified and really prestigious organizations and clubs that served our community like Kiwanis and Rotary," Campbell said.
"I remember thinking, 'I wonder how you get into that club. I wonder what they do at those meetings.' Part of my job as Miss Arkansas, of course, is to attend meetings and to attend functions to serve as a speaker. I really am honored to be here because I know the heart that all of you have for your community and for service. I really appreciate it. On behalf of a student who received scholarships from local organizations like Rotary and Kiwanis, I say, once again, thank you so much."
Campbell won the Miss Arkansas Scholarship Pageant in Hot Springs last June as a first-time participant in the pageant. No first-time contestant had won the pageant since 1979.
She went on to earn second runner-up at the Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City in September. Her platform as Miss Arkansas, "Aim Higher," encourages students to learn about the benefits of higher education.
Campbell, 20, is a junior at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. She grew up in Hindsville and graduated from Huntsville, which is less than 30 miles from Fayetteville.
Both of Campbell's parents, Roger and Tonia Campbell, were first-generation college graduates. She said higher education was not valued much in her extended family and was actually embarrassed by it when she was younger.
The Campbells encouraged their daughter to pursue higher education and she knew she would go to college when she was just 9 years old. She wanted early on to attend Arkansas and later discussed it with her parents when she was 14.
Campbell admits she was not enthused by pageants when she was young. Her first pageant experience when she was 9 coincided with her first experience with bullying.
She played sports in school and says she was interested in "tomboy" activities. She worked hard in school to be able to afford college. Her research into scholarship opportunities is what initially drew her to the Miss America organization.
"I'll let you all know, I wasn't the smartest person in my class or the smartest person at my school," Campbell said. "I didn't have that 4.0. I had a 3.8. I didn't have the greatest GPA. I didn't have the greatest ACT score for my school. So I wasn't going to get one of those coveted and extremely competitive University of Arkansas full-ride scholarships. I just wasn't. I started looking for alternative scholarship opportunities."
She even applied for a scholarship for redheaded students. Her application was successful and she received a $500 scholarship.
Campbell explained how the four points of her crown represent style, scholarship, service and success. She won about $27,000 in cash scholarship funds from the Miss Arkansas pageant.
The second runner-up result at Miss America earned her another $25,000 in cash scholarship money. Campbell said she has been offered another $300,000 of in-kind scholarship assistance at schools across the state. She plans to transfer to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences for her graduate work.
She was a first-time winner at the state pageant, but had collected three years of background in pageants when she was a teenager. She won the Miss Arkansas Outstanding Teen in her third attempt and in the final year of her eligibility. She chose "Bridging Generations" as her platform.
Campbell said she approached her first two years at Arkansas as preparation for the Miss America Pageant. She decided to focus on the interview portion and intentionally chose electives such as Public Speaking to enhance her pageant acumen.
It was at Arkansas that Campbell learned the state ranked second in the nation for child poverty. She began to research the issue and pondered what students could do to end "cycles of disadvantage" based on poverty, drug and alcohol abuse, teenage pregnancy, domestic violence or other factors. The relationship with her family helped her develop a deeper personal connection to "Aim Higher" than "Bridging Generations."
"I realize now that it has kind of given me a platform to talk about because higher education really is the answer," Campbell said. "I truly, wholeheartedly believe that."
Campbell now speaks with children about ending their cycles of disadvantage. She says most are surprised when she tells them welders can make $100,000 or more in Arkansas. She knows that her situation at Arkansas may not be ideal for everyone.
"I don't think that that's right for every single student and I'm the first one to acknowledge that," Campbell said. "College may not be for every person, but higher education is."
The Arkansas Department of Higher Education and Arkansas Next magazine have partnered with Campbell for her platform as she has shifted from a focus on scholarship to a focus on service. She said she hopes to let every Arkansas student know they have options and resources available to them through education.
Local on 01/27/2015