Reigning Miss Virginia prepares for life after crown
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Savannah Lane (center) is crowned Miss Virginia 2015 by Miss Virginia 2014 Courtney Garrett (left) and presented flowers by Miss Virginia 2010 Caitlin Uze after her pageant win last summer.
Savannah Lane (center) reacts to winning the 2015 Miss Virginia Pageant at the Berglund Center in Roanoke last year.
Savannah Lane competes in the talent portion of the 2015 Miss Virginia Pageant.
Reigning Miss Virginia 2015 Savannah LaneRelated Galleries
Miss Virginia contestants 2016Twenty-seven young women will compete at the 2016 Miss Virginia competition starting Thursday in Roanoke. Ahead of the competition, the public can visit with the contestants during a meet-and-greet event 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday, June 21, at the Roanoke City Market Building in downtown Roanoke. No ticket is required. 2016 Miss Virginia Pageant When: 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday; Outstanding Teen and Teens in Training finals, 1:30 p.m. Saturday Where: Berglund Center, Roanoke Cost: $40 Thursday and Friday; $50 Saturday; Outstanding Teen and Teens in Training finals, $30 Saturday Tickets/more information: www.hometownbanktix.com, (877) 482-8496
Posted: Wednesday, June 22, 2016 12:00 am
Looking back on her year serving as Miss Virginia, Savannah Lane said she is “forever changed.”
“I knew that it
would be rewarding,” she said. “But I never quite understood how
meaningful it is to hear someone say, ‘Because of you, I’m not going to
give up on my dream.’ ”
When Lane heard her name called as the winner of
the Miss Virginia 2015 pageant last summer, she said it felt “amazing.”
But her real fairy-tale ending had come almost three months earlier when
her twin sister, Hailey, survived a serious medical scare.
On March 23, 2015, Hailey, a second-year cadet at the Air Force Academy, went into massive cardiac arrest while working out at her gym and fell into a coma for weeks. Lane said doctors couldn’t explain what caused the arrest and gave Hailey a 2 percent chance of survival.
“I never thought I was going to hear her voice again,” Lane said. “I never thought I would see her eyes open again. This is my twin sister, my other half, and she was leaving the world, and you could feel it.”
There were moments in the weeks following Hailey’s collapse when the Lane family thought they would have to plan a funeral. But on Easter Sunday, Hailey miraculously woke up. Now, after months in the hospital recovering, Hailey is back at the Air Force Academy, where she is waiting to hear if she is still eligible for commission.
“The fact that she was alive and well was better than anything I could have ever wanted in my life,” Lane said. “When I went to Miss Virginia, I had a newfound sense of purpose and perspective, especially relating to this job, because I knew what it meant to go through tragedy and what it meant to know heartbreak.”
‘Power of the crown’
As Miss Virginia, Lane was an ambassador for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, the national platform of the Miss America Organization. She advocated for the children, served as a “voice for the voiceless” and worked to raise funds.
Lane said some of her favorite memories were visiting the kids, where she was able to use her newfound perspective to relate to their experiences.
Lane remembered wanting something to distract her while her sister was in a coma, so she did her best to be a distraction for the children.
“I’ll do anything to make them laugh,” she said. “I’ve done jokes where I’ll talk with my mouth closed and do ventriloquist stuff, and I’ll do the Whip and Nae Nae, whatever they want. If they request it, I’ll do it, because I know what it feels like to be desperate for happiness and desperate for some kind of hope in a dark situation, like in a hospital.”
Lane said she’s humbled to be able to work with organizations such as the Virginia ABC, promoting a drug- and alcohol-free lifestyle to elementary school students; and the USO, thanking those who serve in the military.
“They call it the power of the crown,” she said. “These opportunities would have never been awarded to me had I not been Miss Virginia.”
In fact, opportunities like these are the reason Lane started competing in pageants when she was 17. She had been volunteering with people in her community with disabilities and wanted to take it further.
“It’s difficult to get into really vulnerable locations, hospitals, Alzheimer’s units, without an organization of excellence backing you,” she said. “And I found that organization of excellence in the Miss America program.”
Music as a universal language
Lane found inspiration in her older sister, Brianna, who has autism.
“When we were younger we found, in our family, solace and comfort in music, despite different levels of ages and disabilities and abilities,” Lane said. “So we found that it was kind of a neutralizing factor for our family.”
Her love of music started when she was 8 years old and has stayed with her through her time as Miss Virginia. Her platform, the Power of Performance, has two components: educating students on the importance of finding a passion to utilize, and performing that passion.
As Miss Virginia, Lane has performed all over the state, singing to veterans and children in hospitals and schools. “People often think of music as a universal language, and obviously it is, but I like to think of it as a step further, as a universal language despite abilities or disabilities, despite economic success or underserving economic centers, it’s just a unifying factor,” she said.
Last September, she placed in the top 15 at the Miss America pageant in Atlantic City, New Jersey. “It’s surreal to think that I was even on that stage,” she said.
Part of the Miss America pageant is the “Show Me Your Shoes” Parade, in which contestants ride around with a shoe or outfit that represents their state. Lane was dressed in a bedazzled equestrian outfit.
“I’m thinking, ‘Wow, this is really glitzy and glam, which is fun, but I’m going to be really hot,’” she said. “And lo and behold, it was pouring rain.”
Every parade that Lane has been in as Miss Virginia has been pouring rain, she said. She jokingly attributes this to the song she performs for her talent: Barbra Streisand’s “Don’t Rain on My Parade.”
Lane said the song is representative of her attitude. “You have the capability to create the legacy that you want, and you can’t let other outside influences impact that,” she said. “It really inspired me. Despite everything that we had gone through, I was going to put on a good show, and I was going to have fun with it, too.”
Walk the walk, talk the talk
Lane has faced several challenges during her time as Miss Virginia. A major challenge, she said, is lack of sleep.
“I don’t think people understand this is a full-time job,” she said, stressing that she would never complain about it and didn’t want to sound ungrateful. “You have to be ready to handle the job the second the crown is placed on your head.”
Lane also said it can be lonely. “You’re with thousands of people some days, and you make friends quickly,” she said. “But once the event is over, you drive by yourself. You go home to your apartment by yourself.”
Lane also has to be ready to defend the Miss Virginia program to those who look down on the pageant industry.
“You have to prove to people what you are about and how you walk the walk and talk the talk,” she said. “When people say pageants aren’t relevant, I say, ‘How did you pay for your college education? Because I paid for mine through scholarships.’ “
Lane has received $37,000 in scholarships from the Miss America Organization. She is majoring in foreign affairs at the University of Virginia, but took a year off to fulfill her Miss Virginia duties. She said UVa was very willing to work with her and that she was able to take off a year with no problem.
Lane said that after the crowning of Miss Virginia 2016 on Saturday, she’ll be done competing in pageants.
“I think that this is the highest caliber organization,” she said. “I think the crown jewel of any pageant would be to aspire to be Miss Virginia and Miss America. So I will hang up the heels and the crown and sash.”
Lane said she will always stay involved with the pageant, but she’s also excited to go back to school. She hopes to one day become an FBI agent, and then run for Congress.
‘Dream come true’ comes to a close
For now, Lane is looking forward to this week’s pageant. She will sing two duets with her older sister, Caitlin, and one with her 11-year-old brother, Brennan.
Lane was involved in the Miss Virginia Organization’s recording of Virginia’s new state song, “Our Great Virginia.” Lane is one of five returning Miss Virginias who collaborated on the track.
“It’s a beautiful tribute to Virginia,” she said. “To be a part of that with a few of the other Forever, as we call them, Miss Virginias was really exciting.”
The idea for the song came from Dr. James Robertson of Virginia Tech.
“I wanted a musical tribute,” Robertson said. “It had to be inspirational enough to become Virginia’s state song. Getting my wonderful state its own official and moving anthem was my goal from the start.”
With the songwriting help of Mike Greenly and Jim Papoulis, “Our Great Virginia” was approved by Virginia’s House and Senate in early 2015, and became the official state song July 1 that year, after Gov. Terry McAuliffe signed it into law.
The Miss Virginia version of the song will be played as the soundtrack to a video honoring returning Miss Virginias during the pageant Friday night. It is available for download from iTunes and Amazon. All proceeds go to the Miss Virginia Scholarship Fund.
Also new at the pageant this year will be a red carpet, organized by Matt Schreier, the youth advisory representative, where folks inside the pageant already can watch people arrive via Apple TV.
Schreier said he’s trying to make sure the Miss Virginia pageant keeps up with technological trends to attract younger people.
“We’re dealing with something that’s been around for a very long time. We want to show people that it’s not just a beauty pageant, it’s an experience,” he said.
Mark Schreier, Matt’s father and director of marketing, fundraising and production, said this year there will be a new spin on the evening wear competition, but declined to go into
details.
There will also be a live Children’s Miracle Network fundraiser via cell phone, and a quilt made of T-shirts from the contestants’ colleges will be raffled off.
The pageant will be co-hosted by Tiffany Haas and Meghan Shanley, Miss Virginia 2001. Miss Virginia 2014 Courtney Garrett will perform “Forever on the Air,” a tribute song to WDBJ journalists Allison Parker and Adam Ward, who were killed last summer.
Lane said that although her final days as Miss Virginia are bittersweet, she’s excited for the next girl to get the same opportunity.
“Come Sunday morning after the crowning, I think that I’m going to definitely need a pick-me-up,” she said. “This is a dream come true, as cliche as it sounds. It’s a dream come true, and it’s coming to a close now.”
On March 23, 2015, Hailey, a second-year cadet at the Air Force Academy, went into massive cardiac arrest while working out at her gym and fell into a coma for weeks. Lane said doctors couldn’t explain what caused the arrest and gave Hailey a 2 percent chance of survival.
“I never thought I was going to hear her voice again,” Lane said. “I never thought I would see her eyes open again. This is my twin sister, my other half, and she was leaving the world, and you could feel it.”
There were moments in the weeks following Hailey’s collapse when the Lane family thought they would have to plan a funeral. But on Easter Sunday, Hailey miraculously woke up. Now, after months in the hospital recovering, Hailey is back at the Air Force Academy, where she is waiting to hear if she is still eligible for commission.
“The fact that she was alive and well was better than anything I could have ever wanted in my life,” Lane said. “When I went to Miss Virginia, I had a newfound sense of purpose and perspective, especially relating to this job, because I knew what it meant to go through tragedy and what it meant to know heartbreak.”
‘Power of the crown’
As Miss Virginia, Lane was an ambassador for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, the national platform of the Miss America Organization. She advocated for the children, served as a “voice for the voiceless” and worked to raise funds.
Lane said some of her favorite memories were visiting the kids, where she was able to use her newfound perspective to relate to their experiences.
Lane remembered wanting something to distract her while her sister was in a coma, so she did her best to be a distraction for the children.
“I’ll do anything to make them laugh,” she said. “I’ve done jokes where I’ll talk with my mouth closed and do ventriloquist stuff, and I’ll do the Whip and Nae Nae, whatever they want. If they request it, I’ll do it, because I know what it feels like to be desperate for happiness and desperate for some kind of hope in a dark situation, like in a hospital.”
Lane said she’s humbled to be able to work with organizations such as the Virginia ABC, promoting a drug- and alcohol-free lifestyle to elementary school students; and the USO, thanking those who serve in the military.
“They call it the power of the crown,” she said. “These opportunities would have never been awarded to me had I not been Miss Virginia.”
In fact, opportunities like these are the reason Lane started competing in pageants when she was 17. She had been volunteering with people in her community with disabilities and wanted to take it further.
“It’s difficult to get into really vulnerable locations, hospitals, Alzheimer’s units, without an organization of excellence backing you,” she said. “And I found that organization of excellence in the Miss America program.”
Music as a universal language
Lane found inspiration in her older sister, Brianna, who has autism.
“When we were younger we found, in our family, solace and comfort in music, despite different levels of ages and disabilities and abilities,” Lane said. “So we found that it was kind of a neutralizing factor for our family.”
Her love of music started when she was 8 years old and has stayed with her through her time as Miss Virginia. Her platform, the Power of Performance, has two components: educating students on the importance of finding a passion to utilize, and performing that passion.
As Miss Virginia, Lane has performed all over the state, singing to veterans and children in hospitals and schools. “People often think of music as a universal language, and obviously it is, but I like to think of it as a step further, as a universal language despite abilities or disabilities, despite economic success or underserving economic centers, it’s just a unifying factor,” she said.
Last September, she placed in the top 15 at the Miss America pageant in Atlantic City, New Jersey. “It’s surreal to think that I was even on that stage,” she said.
Part of the Miss America pageant is the “Show Me Your Shoes” Parade, in which contestants ride around with a shoe or outfit that represents their state. Lane was dressed in a bedazzled equestrian outfit.
“I’m thinking, ‘Wow, this is really glitzy and glam, which is fun, but I’m going to be really hot,’” she said. “And lo and behold, it was pouring rain.”
Every parade that Lane has been in as Miss Virginia has been pouring rain, she said. She jokingly attributes this to the song she performs for her talent: Barbra Streisand’s “Don’t Rain on My Parade.”
Lane said the song is representative of her attitude. “You have the capability to create the legacy that you want, and you can’t let other outside influences impact that,” she said. “It really inspired me. Despite everything that we had gone through, I was going to put on a good show, and I was going to have fun with it, too.”
Walk the walk, talk the talk
Lane has faced several challenges during her time as Miss Virginia. A major challenge, she said, is lack of sleep.
“I don’t think people understand this is a full-time job,” she said, stressing that she would never complain about it and didn’t want to sound ungrateful. “You have to be ready to handle the job the second the crown is placed on your head.”
Lane also said it can be lonely. “You’re with thousands of people some days, and you make friends quickly,” she said. “But once the event is over, you drive by yourself. You go home to your apartment by yourself.”
Lane also has to be ready to defend the Miss Virginia program to those who look down on the pageant industry.
“You have to prove to people what you are about and how you walk the walk and talk the talk,” she said. “When people say pageants aren’t relevant, I say, ‘How did you pay for your college education? Because I paid for mine through scholarships.’ “
Lane has received $37,000 in scholarships from the Miss America Organization. She is majoring in foreign affairs at the University of Virginia, but took a year off to fulfill her Miss Virginia duties. She said UVa was very willing to work with her and that she was able to take off a year with no problem.
Lane said that after the crowning of Miss Virginia 2016 on Saturday, she’ll be done competing in pageants.
“I think that this is the highest caliber organization,” she said. “I think the crown jewel of any pageant would be to aspire to be Miss Virginia and Miss America. So I will hang up the heels and the crown and sash.”
Lane said she will always stay involved with the pageant, but she’s also excited to go back to school. She hopes to one day become an FBI agent, and then run for Congress.
‘Dream come true’ comes to a close
For now, Lane is looking forward to this week’s pageant. She will sing two duets with her older sister, Caitlin, and one with her 11-year-old brother, Brennan.
Lane was involved in the Miss Virginia Organization’s recording of Virginia’s new state song, “Our Great Virginia.” Lane is one of five returning Miss Virginias who collaborated on the track.
“It’s a beautiful tribute to Virginia,” she said. “To be a part of that with a few of the other Forever, as we call them, Miss Virginias was really exciting.”
The idea for the song came from Dr. James Robertson of Virginia Tech.
“I wanted a musical tribute,” Robertson said. “It had to be inspirational enough to become Virginia’s state song. Getting my wonderful state its own official and moving anthem was my goal from the start.”
With the songwriting help of Mike Greenly and Jim Papoulis, “Our Great Virginia” was approved by Virginia’s House and Senate in early 2015, and became the official state song July 1 that year, after Gov. Terry McAuliffe signed it into law.
The Miss Virginia version of the song will be played as the soundtrack to a video honoring returning Miss Virginias during the pageant Friday night. It is available for download from iTunes and Amazon. All proceeds go to the Miss Virginia Scholarship Fund.
Also new at the pageant this year will be a red carpet, organized by Matt Schreier, the youth advisory representative, where folks inside the pageant already can watch people arrive via Apple TV.
Schreier said he’s trying to make sure the Miss Virginia pageant keeps up with technological trends to attract younger people.
“We’re dealing with something that’s been around for a very long time. We want to show people that it’s not just a beauty pageant, it’s an experience,” he said.
Mark Schreier, Matt’s father and director of marketing, fundraising and production, said this year there will be a new spin on the evening wear competition, but declined to go into
details.
There will also be a live Children’s Miracle Network fundraiser via cell phone, and a quilt made of T-shirts from the contestants’ colleges will be raffled off.
The pageant will be co-hosted by Tiffany Haas and Meghan Shanley, Miss Virginia 2001. Miss Virginia 2014 Courtney Garrett will perform “Forever on the Air,” a tribute song to WDBJ journalists Allison Parker and Adam Ward, who were killed last summer.
Lane said that although her final days as Miss Virginia are bittersweet, she’s excited for the next girl to get the same opportunity.
“Come Sunday morning after the crowning, I think that I’m going to definitely need a pick-me-up,” she said. “This is a dream come true, as cliche as it sounds. It’s a dream come true, and it’s coming to a close now.”
http://www.roanoke.com/life/reigning-miss-virginia-prepares-for-life-after-crown/article_d72feb5d-679c-5cff-aee5-6023a7f45b3a.html
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