CNU Student Wins the Miss Virginia Beach Pageant
News Release - January 29, 2008
Media Contact:
Emily L. Lucier
Press Secretary and Media Manager
emily.lucier@cnu.edu
(757) 594-8428
(NEWPORT NEWS, Va.) - In a spirited competition this past Sunday, Christopher Newport University student Shannon Oliver won the Miss Virginia Beach 2008 Pageant. Miss Oliver is a sophomore at CNU, majoring in Psychology, with a minor in Communications.
She is a member of the Newport Pearls, an all-female Accapella singing group at CNU, a Resident Assistant, the Vice President of Operation Smile Club at CNU, an organization which provides money and volunteers to help correct the mouths of children in third world countries who suffer from a cleft lip, as well as the founder and President of CNU S.A.I.L., which stands for Sharing Awareness for Intercultural Living.
“My platform for the Pageant was Cultural Togetherness, and the judges specifically asked me about CNU S.A.I.L., and how that ties in with it,” said Miss Oliver. “I explained that I grew up in military housing and a very multi-ethnic church, so when I entered middle school and high school and saw students treating each other poorly because of their differences, I was taken aback and rather upset. Since middle school, I've done as much as I can to bridge the gap among different kinds of people, and decided to found this organization at CNU last semester in order to give other students and myself the opportunity to teach youth in schools throughout the area about the importance of viewing one another as individuals rather than as members of a general clique or stereotype. Members of S.A.I.L. have to complete a three-session training program facilitated by CNU’s Assistant Director of Student Life for Multicultural Affairs in order to be a facilitator in schools. I wrote the constitution for the group, selected officers, and have helped about 25 students complete training, thus far.”
Miss Oliver has trained in classical vocal performance for more than ten years, and also won the talent portion of the competition with her performance of “O Mio Babbino Caro”. She will travel to Roanoke in June to compete in the Miss Virginia 2008 Pageant.
Christopher Newport University is a four-year public university in Newport News, Virginia. CNU enrolls 4,800 students in programs through its College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Joseph W. Luter III College of Business and Leadership and offers great teaching, small classes and an emphasis on leadership, civic engagement and honor.
Visit us at www.cnu.edu.