Shaylee Jensen crowned Miss USU Eastern

This archived article was written by: Alex Anderson

Alex Anderson
Staff Writer

In a field of nine women, Shaylee Jensen was awarded Miss USU Eastern 2018. Veronica Tita was named second attendant and Spirit of Miss USU Eastern while Allie Sherman was named first attendant and Miss Castle Country 2018. Jensen and Sherman will be competing at the Miss Utah Pageant in June 2018.   
Tita is second attendant and grew up in Springville, Utah. She performed a monologue from “Twelfth Night.” Her platform was “Books for Children,” which focuses on providing necessary supplies young students need to prosper in school.
Sherman is first attendant and grew up in Price, Utah. She performed a vocal solo of “Hallelujah” as her talent. Sherman’s platform was “All Aboard the Reading Railroad,” and wants to inspire children in this community to not only read more, but enjoy reading as well.    
The 2018 Miss USU Eastern is from Genola, Utah. She’s a freshman at Eastern and wants to minor in criminal justice so that she can attend the police academy by age 21 to eventually become a police officer.
Jensen performed a jazz dance during the talent portion of the pageant. Talent is where contestants collect the most amount of points. She is a member of the USU Eastern dance team and has danced since she was a child.  
Even with experience as Miss Genola 2015 and Miss Santaquin second attendant 2016, she was still “extremely nervous” beginning the pageant. Her favorite part about competing in pageants is “making new friends and building my self-confidence.”
Jensen cannot wait to start her duties as Miss USU Eastern and one of the first things she wants to do is “visit local schools and teach children self-esteem-building activities and let them know about my confidence-building, social-media account.”
Her platform for the pageant was “Love Your Selfie,” which works to promote self-confidence and boost self-esteem.
She said to her fellow contestants and everyone who helped her that, “I would like to give a huge ‘thank you’ to everyone on the pageant committee. I learned so much from each and every one of you.
“And I would like to tell the other contestants how proud I am of them all. It seriously takes guts to get up on this stage and strut your stuff. If it were up to me, there would be nine new Miss USU Eastern’s because every young woman did so amazing.”