Savannah Skidmore has always been "spunky," her best friend says. She was the one who marched across the classroom and introduced herself on the first day of kindergarten in Calico Rock, the one who has always wanted to make a difference, the one that best friend Paxton Washington expected would end up "somewhere with bright lights."
In July, the state spotlight shone on Skidmore, the reigning Miss University of Arkansas, as she was named first runner-up at the Miss Arkansas Pageant. On Sept. 11, the lights of a nation were on Miss Arkansas, Savvy Shields, as she was crowned Miss America. But Washington and other friends, relatives and Miss UA pageant director Toni Bahn knew what that moment meant for Skidmore. On Sept. 12, she accepted the offer to step up to the title of Miss Arkansas. The job came with all the perks -- the $25,000 in scholarship money, more than $75,000 in awards, wardrobe and gifts, the apartment, the car and the task of traveling the state until she crowns her successor next June in the pageant's new home, Robinson Auditorium in Little Rock.
But There’s More
Read more about the new Miss America, former Miss Arkansas and Fayetteville native Savvy Shields, in Sunday’s Profiles section in the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
In Her Own Words
Savannah Skidmore
Date of birth: Nov. 7, 1994
Family: Parents, Kim and Jerry Skidmore; siblings, Miranda Worthey and Alex Skidmore; grandparents, Sue and Duane Price, Marion and Robert Skidmore; nephew and niece, Lawson Worthey and Scarlett Stowers.
Best piece of advice: I had a professor once that taught me to always be curious about everything and you’ll never stop learning. I try to learn something new everyday because of him.
Questions I get asked the most: How tall are you? (I’m 5-foot-8 and almost always wearing heels.) Where is Calico Rock? (My hometown is very small, so I usually have to tell people the general area that I grew up in.)
What’s always in my refrigerator: Almond milk is something I have become obsessed with. It is healthier and tastier than real milk! I also always have hummus because it’s a yummy snack with crackers!
Something you might be surprised to know about me: I am a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. I reached the black belt when I was only 12 years old!
A self-indulgence of mine: Ice cream. No matter what kind of day I have had, I can always count on ice cream to cheer me up.
If I had an extra hour in the day, I’d: I would use it to play basketball. I hardly ever get to play anymore because I’m always so busy. It has been a love of mine, though, since I learned to dribble.
When I want to relax: I pop some popcorn and watch a classic movie.
I want to be known for: I want to be worth knowing rather than being well known. I want to continue to grow throughout my year as Miss Arkansas and beyond in order to be someone who has the ability to touch the hearts of every person I come in contact with.
"I was just as nervous watching Miss America as I was watching [the] Miss Arkansas [Pageant in Hot Springs]," Washington says. "When Savvy was one of the last three, I was shaking I was so nervous. When they said her name, I started crying and called Savannah immediately. I'm so excited for both of them."
Bahn watched the Miss America Pageant with her queen and Skidmore's mom, Kim.
"It was very emotional," Kim says of watching the pageant and knowing the outcome if Shields won the title. "We're usually pretty steadfast people. But it was very emotional."
"When they started announcing runners-up, Savannah and I grabbed hands like they do on TV," Bahn says. "When they said 'Arkansas,' Savannah collapsed in my arms. Her mom and I started crying. We knew that we were sitting with the next Miss Arkansas!"
Now Miss Arkansas
Each Miss America preliminary has the same plan for handling the succession to the state title should its queen win the national crown, says Jessie Bennett, the Miss Arkansas Pageant's executive director.
"As Savvy transitions into the role of Miss America and Savannah transitions into becoming Miss Arkansas, logistical management of the apartment, car, prizes, bookings and scholarships are managed closely through the Miss Arkansas Pageant, our Miss Arkansas Scholarship Foundation and the contestants' families," Bennett says.
But not every first runner-up wants the job. Had Skidmore turned it down, the second runner-up would have been contacted next and so on. "We each follow that protocol in offering the position to the runners-up in order," Bennett says.
Skidmore says she thought neither long nor hard. She knew she was willing to put her senior year at the university on hold to reign as Miss Arkansas.
One of the instructors she left behind is Robyn Starling Ledbetter, director of student media in the UA journalism department. Ledbetter understands the pageant world. She was director of the Miss Heart of the Ozarks Pageant, the one Shields represented.
"It's hard to not admit the first thing you notice is she's stunningly beautiful," she says of Skidmore. "She's got a really neat presence about her -- she's very commanding of the room in a very subtle way. I think the stereotypical questions are: Is she kind? Is she really nice? She is. A good word is 'unassuming.' She works very hard to be a good student. She worked really hard as a [UATV] anchor last year. She'd come a long way, and that was evident at Miss Arkansas."
"She started out doing local pageants as a young girl -- county fairs and state fair competition," Skidmore's mom remembers. "Every little girl's dream is to be Miss America, so she just figured out what she needed to do and entered her first [Miss Arkansas] preliminary. She won her first one."
The experience of winning Miss Batesville brought her and her mother closer, Skidmore says. "I entered as a test run, and when I won, we had to figure it out together."
Growing up in the tiny Izard County town of Calico Rock, Skidmore was a tomboy who "always admired pageant girls," not for their beauty as much as for being "goal oriented." She was Pre-Teen Arkansas when she was 10, an experience she describes as "fascinating" for a small-town girl. She played basketball in high school -- "Basketball was everything in Calico Rock and everything to me," she says. And she successfully handled the transition to the university, where a class might have more people in it than her hometown. Returning to pageants gave her "something to set goals for -- a way I could make a difference and make a difference in me."
'Speak Up Now'
Every Miss America preliminary contestant has a platform, an issue on which she wishes to speak during her reign. Skidmore's comes from a very difficult time for her family. When she was a freshman in college, her uncle committed suicide. "Speak Up Now: Suicide Prevention and Awareness" aims to "educate people on the warning signs that someone may show when having life-ending thoughts and to break through the stigma surrounding suicide in order to reach those who are suffering," she explains. She wants to use her time as Miss Arkansas to implement her Speak Up Now program across college campuses in Arkansas, offer support to those affected by suicide and encourage those suffering or those who see someone suffering to speak up.
"We didn't see it coming," she says simply about the loss of her uncle. "I want people to see it coming. I want people to recognize the risk whenever someone's behavior changes dramatically."
Skidmore has a tiny semicolon tattoo, part of a national statement called "Project Semicolon." Its founders say the "movement [is] dedicated to presenting hope and love to those who are struggling with depression, suicide, addiction and self-injury. Project Semicolon exists to encourage, love and inspire."
But why a semicolon?
"A semicolon is used when an author could've chosen to end their sentence, but chose not to. The author is you, and the sentence is your life."
Skidmore says the tattoo is in memory of her uncle, but "it's also a good message for me. I choose to keep going."
"She didn't tell me that [suicide awareness] was going to be her platform until right before she went to Miss Batesville," mom Kim Skidmore says. "I think she was afraid it would upset me and her grandparents. It was kind of hard at first, but it's a good thing too. If she can prevent it from happening to one more family, it'll be worth it."
Less than a week into her journey, Skidmore says the experience of wearing the Miss Arkansas crown has been "nothing but amazing." And Washington promises it won't change who her longtime best friend is.
"She has her head on straight. She definitely doesn't fit the typical pageant role. She's obviously beautiful and has the personality, but she's very down to earth."
NAN Our Town on 09/22/2016