• Miss Missouri Visits Central VPA High School

    Miss Missouri

    Students from Central Visual and Performing Arts High School enjoyed a special guest on December 2. Miss Missouri 2013 Shelby Ringdahl performed for the students and talked to them about pursuing a degree and a career in the arts.

    CVPA students also performed for Miss Ringdahl, a musical theatre major at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. Along with being the reigning Miss Missouri, Miss Ringdahl ranked in the top 12 in the 2014 Miss America pageant held last September in Atlantic City.

    During high school, Miss Ringdahl focused on academics, sports, music, and theatre. Pageants weren’t even on her radar until a college professor encouraged her to try out because of her strong vocals and height. Last year, the Miss America Organization and its state and local organizations made available more than $45 million in cash and scholarship assistance, so she initially saw it as an opportunity to earn additional money for school.

    The first time she competed in Miss Missouri, she was second runner up, but she “fell in love with the job” and went back and won the title the next year. “Getting to travel the state and see the schools and see amazing students like you all perform – like that was phenomenal,” said Miss Ringdahl.

    Miss Ringdahl explained to the students that she keeps a bucket list of goals by her bed and encouraged them to do the same to stay motivated and moving forward on their dreams.

    “My advice to you all is to please, please, please keep a bucket list,” she said. “On my bucket list there are things like: I wanted to go to a college of my choice. I wanted to be on the honor roll every semester. I wanted to play varsity sports. I wanted to audition for American Idol. I wanted to go to Texas. Then, all of a sudden, I added on, be Miss Missouri. I want to be on Broadway. I want to be Elphaba in Wicked. ... Those goals, I cling so hard to them because they’re so important to me. The older you get, the more opportunity you have to make poor choices. I was presented in high school with multiple times to make poor choices, and I watched a lot of my friends fall off the deep end. And I stayed true to those goals because I wanted them so badly.”

    For additional information about Miss Ringdahl and the Miss Missouri Scholarship Pageant, visit missmissouri.org.
      
    CVPA Dancers   Tiara and Sash