MARTINSBURG, W.Va. – A new Miss West Virginia and Miss West Virginia’s Teen will be crowned in Martinsburg Saturday night.
This week the current titleholders sat down on Panhandle Live to reflect on their year.
Miss West Virginia Jennifer Reuther, a Type 1 Diabetic, said one of her favorite memories from the past year was visiting Camp KnoKoma and talking to children, who like her, got a life-altering diagnosis at a young age. “I’m Type 1 Diabetic, for twenty years now, and I grew up going to the camp in West Virginia, called Camp KnoKoma, so one of my first appearances after being crowned last year was to go back to camp. And I had my shiny cap and my sash on, but I also said, ‘Guess what? I’m diabetic too.’”
“Just being there was a full circle moment for me, to be with those kids newly diagnosed, and seeing where I was many years ago. To now go back as Miss West Virginia was amazing.”
Reuther is from Wheeling but now lives and works in the Charleston area. She said she traveled 40,000 miles during her year of service and her radio interview Thursday marked her 200th appearance. She talked about bringing her message, Wellness Across West Virginia to a broad audience around the state. “One of my goals was to really get into the southern part of our state and to our rural counties,” Reuther said. “I visited a lot of schools down there and it’s so amazing no matter if there are five kids in that room or I speak to a whole gymnasium of 500 kids, they’re just as important and that’s something that I really wanted to value.
Reuther works as a pediatric Physician’s Assistant, and while she doesn’t wear her crown to work, she said the nurses often use it to calm anxious youngsters by saying, “Would you like to see Miss West Virginia?” She said one of her young patients calls her Doctor West Virginia as a result.
She said she earned her PA degree just three weeks before being crowned last June and said she worked full time while managing her appearance schedule and competing in the Miss America pageant. “It’s been really busy,” she said, “but it’s been a very amazing year to be busy.”
For her part, Miss West Virginia’s Teen Demi Breeden, from Jefferson County,
said she has visited 11 different Ronald McDonald Houses in 11 different states. “Every Ronald McDonald House visit that I’ve had has been my favorite,” she said. “Each house is so different.”
“My family stayed at the Ronald McDonald House in Philadelphia,” Breeden said, referring to her Community Service Initiative The Ronald McDonald House Charities: Jack’s Journey, the inspiration for which was a young family member who had been gravely ill as a child and whose family was able to stay in the Ronald McDonald House near his treatment.
“I want other families to experience the love, compassion, and empathy we received during such a dark time, which helped to make Jack’s journey a little bit brighter,” Breeden has said of her CSI.
She visited the one in Philadelphia, which she said is huge. “I also spent a lot of time volunteering at the Baltimore one, which is still very big but they have completely different looks.”
Breeden, who will be returning to Washington High School as a sophomore this fall, said it wasn’t always easy to balance her very busy academic and extracurricular (including dance) load with her service work as Miss West Virginia’s teen.
“My teachers were all so supportive. Going into my first year of high school, it was definitely difficult balancing everything along with dance, along with appearances and school. But my teachers were so helpful making sure I had all my school work. I know I did some homework in the car,” she said.
Some of her classmates were surprised when they learned she had won the title. “They said, ‘Demi, I didn’t know this about you,’” she said, adding that her friends at school have all been very supportive of her.
Both said they spent part of their year encouraging young ladies across the state to get into the Miss West Virginia sisterhood. “We have a lot of new girls this year and it’s absolutely amazing,” Reuther said.
Asked if there are any clear winners going into this weekend’s final, “We get asked that,” Reuther said. “I wish I knew. We want them to do well. We want every single girl to have this job, this experience and have this year of a lifetime.”
“I don’t know who’s going to win. We have no idea.”
19 young women are competing for the title of Miss West Virginia, 15 for the title of Miss West Virginia’s Teen this week at the Airborne Event Center in Martinsburg.
The competition culminates with the finals, set to begin Saturday night at 7:30.