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A local woman is running for the Miss West Virginia spot in the Miss USA pageant.
“I wanted to do this because you can be a great advocate for our state,” Wyoming County native Jamie Leigh Reichert said. “I want to bring awareness to childhood obesity and drug addiction.
“I recently saw a report on TV that made it sound like drugs were the only thing coming out of Wyoming County. I’ve never touched a drug in my life and I’m living my dreams. Anyone can do it. You just have to say ‘no.’”
Like many people, Reichert has experienced tragedy, and for her, it came at an early age.
‘My best friend passed away when I was 13,” Reichert said. “She had aplastic anemia and she was able to beat it once, but she caught a cold that took her life. She was in St. Jude Children’s Hospital and she had a wish granted by the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
“I wrote a play about losing her and took it to a state competition my senior year of high school. The play got third out of 20 schools. I decided to go to California and chase my dreams of being a scriptwriter.”
While living in Los Angeles, Reichert was cast in a soon-to-air reality TV show.
“It’s like ‘The Bachelor,’ but with an NFL player,” she said. “The player was the tight-end for the Kansas City Chiefs, Travis Kelce. The show is called ‘Catching Kelce,’ and it airs Oct. 5 at 9 p.m. on the E! Network.”
A non-disclosure agreement kept Reichert from sharing any details about the show, but she said she looks forward to the show’s airing.
After the show, the opportunity to run for Miss West Virginia appeared in front of Reichert. She moved back to West Virginia and she’s already advocating for awareness in drug abuse and childhood obesity, she said.
“I will be meeting with Sen. Bill Cole next week in a one-on-one format to talk about drug abuse in our area,” Reichert said. “I’m also meeting with the principal of Westside High School to talk about everything that I’m doing. I want to help change statistics. I know it can be done.”
To help fight childhood obesity, Reichert became a group fitness instructor.
“I had been to a ‘Move with Heart,’ campaign from comedian Kevin Hart,” she said. “I wasn’t out of shape, but I wanted to help other people get in shape. I ended up helping my dad work out and he works out five days a week and tries to get 500 pushups by Friday. He’s lost quite a bit of weight and he’s 60. If he can do it then I know a child can.”
On the way to the Miss USA Pageant, Reichert will have to raise $5,000. About $2,000 of that covers pageant fees, but she’ll still need dresses and things like that, she said.
“I’ve set up a GoFundMe account to raise the money,” Reichert said. “I’ve raised about $750 so far.”
To donate to Reichert’s campaign, visitwww.gofundme.com/misswvjamieleigh. You can follow her on Instagram atwww.instagram.com/reichertj17 or on Twitter at www.twitter.com/reichertj17.
http://www.register-herald.com/news/wyoming-county-native-trying-to-represent-west-virginia-in-miss/article_c62c1d56-bb69-5bf9-8d84-0e1f821e128d.html