Pageant experience prepares Shumaker for life
October 01, 2008 | Volleyball
If you were to ask athid=7262&deptid=133"> --> Sally Shumaker what is the most important advice she's ever received she would respond with the same answer every time.
'I'd say it is to never ever give up because I've lived my life by that motto in school and sports. It's paid off because I'm here, at the University of Wisconsin playing volleyball and I couldn't be happier. '
That piece of advice gave Shumaker the determination to earn a spot on the Badger volleyball roster for the 2008 season as a freshman defensive specialist.
That answer also helped her achieve something completely unrelated to volleyball this past summer. At the 2008 Miss Bristol pageant , Shumaker was asked this same question on stage. Her response helped her earn the title of Miss Bristol 2008. She won the crown for the first time and followed that piece of advice to never give up after finishing third in the 2006 contest.
'I think doing the pageant the second time, I had a little bit more experience with the whole thing so I knew what to expect. I knew how to prepare better and I was more comfortable with things and could really be myself. To win it that second time was amazing. It's Ms. Bristol and it is a big deal.'
Shumaker's hometown of Bristol, Wis., is located just outside Kenosha and every summer, the city hosts Bristol Progress Days. High school girls from the area are recruited to compete for the title of Miss Bristol.
'It's usually girls that are really involved, good in school and athletics. So I got a phone call three years ago and they asked me if I wanted to be in the pageant and it sounded like fun.'
This is not your typical beauty pageant as there is no talent competition or swim suit competition. Instead, the competitors are evaluated on how well they can carry themselves. Shumaker noted that she had interviews with the three judges before the pageant started. The competitors were also judged on how well they could mingle and communicate with prominent people in the Bristol community. With this, she had the opportunity to meet and talk politics with Wisconsin State Senator Bob Wirch.
'Miss Bristol is more about your poise and your ability to just go up to people and introduce yourself and have conversation and just be seen in the public and be composed,' Shumaker said.
'One of the really nice things about the pageant is from doing it, I 've gotten that much better at just being able to go up and introduce myself and talk with people. Those are life skills that I'm going to carry with me. '
The winner of Miss Bristol has the honor of representing the community at Bristol Progress Days and helps spread the word about the annual event. Shumaker also has plans to do a variety of community service activities in Bristol after the volleyball season is over.
'I'm going to help out with the blood drive, which I helped out with right before I came to school,' Shumaker said. 'Being in Madison, it 's kind of hard to go back home and help out, especially with volleyball and school. But I'm thinking over Christmas, I will try to do something at the soup kitchen.'
For now, one crown is enough for Shumaker. She said that Miss Bristol is not a qualifying pageant and she has no plans of competing in Miss Wisconsin or any other pageants throughout the state.
Right now, her focus is on volleyball and school. While pageants may appear to be completely different than playing volleyball, Shumaker has been able to translate some of her pageant skills to how she carries herself with the UW volleyball team.
'We had our Dress for Success dinner with the volleyball team and there were a lot of really important people there,' Shumaker said. 'I think from the Ms. Bristol pageant, I have the skills to be able to go and talk to older people. At our dinner, it was easy for me to just go out there, learn about all these ladies and their careers and have conversation with them while not being nervous or scared and just being composed.'
Shumaker is a freshman though and it's hard for any freshman, whether you 're a pageant winner or not, to stay completely composed during the first few weeks of school, especially when you accidentally walked into the wrong classroom.
'I walked into my Spanish class and they read off the list of names and my name is not on the list,' Shumaker said. 'So I try to not get red or anything and said `Lo siento, I'm in the wrong class'. So I just walked out and everyone started laughing me, but it wasn't that bad. Everyone was older and they had their Spanish speaking skills down and I was like `Oh my god'!'
While being crowned Miss Bristol was a great moment for Shumaker, she experienced another defining moment a few weeks later when she stepped on the court at the UW Field House for the first time during the Cardinal and White scrimmage. She then knew why she never, ever gave up.
Shumaker explains, 'It was the coolest thing in the world to be able to have my family in the stands, wearing a Badger jersey, my mom probably cried, and having the community see me as a Badger volleyball player.'
