VIDEO: Miss Arkansas Savvy Shields knows how to win

Miss Arkansas knows what it takes to win

Savvy Shields, Miss Arkansas 2016, will represent the state at the Miss America Pageant in September.
Savvy Shields, Miss Arkansas 2016, will represent the state at the Miss America Pageant in September.

Watching her play with bubbles during a photo shoot, Savvy Shields looks very much like an ordinary college coed. She laughs easily, both at the situation and at herself, as she tries to catch the bubbles on her fingers and dodges fog sprayed into the mix. Not until she's finished does she become Miss Arkansas, asking the photographers' names and shaking their hands. Later, she says she's working hard at remembering everyone she meets during what is certain to be an extraordinary year.

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FILE PHOTO

Savvy Shields pauses at a post-pageant reception with her family, brother Dane and parents Todd and Karen.

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FILE PHOTO

Savvy Shields, a Fayetteville native and University of Arkansas student, was crowned Miss Arkansas July 9 in Hot Springs.

"It's very rare people get to live their childhood dream," says Shields, a Fayetteville native and University of Arkansas student. "It's surreal it's a possibility I could be Miss America. It makes me laugh -- a 21-year-old art major could have a microphone to America!

FAQ

Miss Arkansas

Homecoming

WHEN — 5-7 p.m. Aug. 23

WHERE — Kappa Kappa Gamma house at the University of Arkansas

COST — Free

INFO — Follow Miss Arkansas Savvy Shields on Facebook or @MissAmericaAR on Twitter

FYI

Miss America

Pageant

The Miss America Pageant airs at 8 p.m. Central time Sept. 11 on ABC.

"But it's a win-win situation. If I win, I get to represent the greatest state -- or I come back to the greatest state to be Miss Arkansas for a year. I am unbelievably blessed."

When she was crowned Miss Arkansas on July 9, Shields did something that no one in the state pageant system had ever done. She had won the title of Miss Arkansas' Outstanding Teen -- also a part of the Miss America system -- on her first try in 2009. She won the title of Miss Arkansas on her first try, too, after waiting nearly a decade to compete.

"I was 13 when I was Miss Arkansas' Outstanding Teen," she says. "And I couldn't compete for Miss Arkansas until I was 19. I realized how hard [being Miss Arkansas] was and wanted to wait until I was emotionally, spiritually and mentally prepared."

She also decided she wanted to return to the Miss Heart of the Ozarks preliminary pageant, where she had won her previous title.

"I saw how well they loved on their girls and what an incredible support system they had," she says.

Her victory at Miss Arkansas was the perfect way for Robyn Ledbetter, Miss Heart of the Ozarks director, to wrap up her time behind the throne. Her daughter, Starling, wants to compete next year, and Ledbetter needs to step to the mom side of the aisle.

"When you ask Starling who she looks up to the most, it's always Savvy Shields," Ledbetter says. "So to know at 13 Savvy made that sort of impression on my daughter? There's no one better as a mentor for your children to see."

Being a Miss America contestant means more than being a beauty queen, Ledbetter says adamantly, explaining that the skills required for getting the job are very similar to what she teaches in her communications classes at the University of Arkansas -- "how to think on your feet, non-verbals, knowing who you are."

"I am a huge supporter of how it empowers young women," she says. "It pushes girls to be their best selves."

"Pageants are a lifestyle," agrees Shields, a dancer since the age of 3. "You have to know what's going on in the world, treat your body well for a long time, practice your talent every day for months so there will be muscle memory, build a reserve of mental toughness. You can't go in with the goal of winning; you have to be the best Savvy you can possibly be."

Shields turns very serious when she talks about her platform, the critical issue each contestant studies and prepares to share across the nation should she win. Hers is "Eat Better, Live Better," and she says it "aims to educate people on how the foods we eat really make an impact on our lives as a whole."

"I grew up in a very healthy home, then went off to college -- a world of free ice cream and pizza," she says. It wasn't the "freshman 15" pounds that got her attention but rather "growing sick and tired of being sick and tired." She wants to convince people that $2 will buy a bag of chips -- after which, you'll still be hungry, she says -- or a bag of apples, which will be food for more than a day.

"Eating better takes more prep time but not necessarily more money," she says.

She does have a weakness when it comes to food: fettuccine Alfredo. But she'd just as soon have a bag of brussels sprouts, she assures. And she's very sure which she'll be eating until she leaves for the Miss America Pageant on Aug. 28. Until then, her life will be a whirlwind of interview coaching, talent practice, wardrobe fittings and meet-and-greets.

It's a long way from Shields' routine as an art student at the UA, where she says you'll ordinarily find her with her hair in a bun with a paintbrush holding it up and a paint-covered button-down shirt over yoga pants and tennis shoes.

"I do art as a validation for my existence. I paint to express my joy," she says. "My dream is to be an artist -- but also to be able to eat!"

Ledbetter says what sets Shields apart isn't the artist or the pageant persona.

"To say she is genuinely kind is an understatement," she says. "She makes you feel important, regardless of who you are. She's got a great shot at Miss America -- and there's no one else I'd rather see on that stage and support."

NAN What's Up on 08/05/2016

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