Featured in series #QueensBehindTheScenes by Miss Central Jersey 2020, Ariel Staffin on FB
I am always thankful for the opportunity to present the U.S. Navy, my University, George Washington University, Miss District of Columbia Organization as a candidate and the Miss America Organization! Thank you Ariel Staffin, Miss Central Jersey, it was an honor to have been asked to be interviewed and featured in your series "QueensBehindTheScenes". I love your Social Impact Initiative/platform where you highlight/feature MAO women that are women in service. I am proud of my sisters in arms and so thankful for their service!!!
In this blog I am actually sharing a post from Miss Central Jersey's FB page as I am featured in today's #QueensBehindTheScenes" "#FierceFemaleFriday" series where she wrote.
"#MAO sisters in arms Happy #FierceFemaleFriday! For this week’s #QueensBehindTheScenes, I am stoked to be featuring another sister in arms and an experienced pageant queen. Here’s her story...
Andolyn Medina began her pageant experience at a young age and has been crowned many times as Miss Virginia’s Outstanding Preteen 2008, Miss Virginia’s Outstanding Teen 2012, Miss Virginia Collegiate America 2014, Miss Chesapeake 2015, Miss Roanoke Valley 2016, Miss Piedmont Region 2018 & Miss DC Sweetheart 2019. She is currently a candidate in the Miss District of Columbia Organization!
When she’s not killing it on the pageant stage, she’s kicking butt in the military, where she commissioned to the rank of Ensign/01, US Navy, as a result of being selected through the US Navy Health Professions Scholarship Program. Her current role is a 3rd year doctoral student at George Washington University in their Clinical Psychology program.
Her parents are what inspired her to join the Navy. They are both retired Naval Officers, and she says she often saw the pride they had in representing and fighting for our country. She also saw the physical toll and realized that we can often sympathize with that experience, but do not think about the mental toll on the service men and women or their families. She decided that she wanted to join to honor her family’s legacy by being a psychologist in the Navy as a way to give back, bring more awareness and education, and to serve her country by serving on one of the largest platforms.
When asked what being in the pageant circuit as a military officer was like, she said “Pageants, to me, bring the opportunity to show that women really can have it all. We can be smart, talented, ambitious, beautiful, athletic, etc. and all while still being relatable and of service to others. I want to continue to bring diversity and representation into the pageant industry and to empower the next generation of women that they can be limitless. I have been serving in my community and giving back since I was 4 years old, so it is embedded into the foundation of everything that I do.”
Thank you for your service to your community and country as an MAO candidate and Naval Officer, and thank you for showing young women everywhere that there are no limits for what they can do!
#MissNewJersey #RoadToMissNewJersey #MAO #MissAmerica
