Family key as Miller wins Fulton County 4-H Fair Queen

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Fulton County 4-H Fair Queen Vivian Miller

Vivian Miller’s sister put the idea in her head that she should enter the Fulton County 4-H Fair Queen pageant.

Her mother was once the queen. And her father gave her the best advice.

All of the family elements came together for Miller, who will be a senior at Rochester High School in the fall, in winning the pageant Sunday.

"It's amazing,” Miller said. “Honestly, I was in disbelief until this moment. And then now that I have been at shows all day, OK, I feel like Fair Queen.”

Avarie Montel was First Runner-Up, Shelby Cahill was Second Runner-Up, and Lilly Gerald was Miss Congeniality.

“I have an awesome court, so I’m super excited for what the week holds,” Miller said.

Vivian’s younger sister Vanessa, who will be a seventh-grader, had said that she wanted to do the pageant. That sounds fun, Vivian thought, even though she had never entered a pageant. Plus, she had her mom’s encouragement.

“I was like, you know what, I have two more years left in 4-H,” Vivian said. “I’m a nine-year 4-H member right now, and the next year is my last. So I might as well give it a shot and just see how it goes, and there are more interview skills. So I kind of went out and ran with it.”

Miller also runs cross-country and track and has previously played tennis. She was the No. 3 runner on the Lady Z cross-country team last fall in her first full-time season on the team. She was asked if the Fair Queen pageant was competitive the way sports are competitive.

“You want to do well, and especially with the running portion, it’s about how you do,” Miller said. “It’s you against other people in a sense, but it’s mostly you against yourself – how you can improve. However, I have to say it was like a cross-country competition because none of us were competing against each other. We were all going to be excited whoever won.”

Of course, the difference is that in a race a runner can tell in real time how they are doing against their competition. In a pageant, it is not as easy.

The speech portion of the pageant was evidence that she was meeting her own objectives.

“I didn’t know how I was doing compared to other people,” Miller said. “I knew how I was doing compared to myself, so I actually was really excited. That was the first time I’ve done my speech and not had a mess-up. … That was a win for me. I wasn’t measuring myself against the other girls. I was kind of just measuring me against how I had practiced against how I performed.”

Miller also said she got “Best Interview” in the pageant.

“I’ve done a lot of interviews for FFA,” Miller said. “It’s being calm. You’re talking about yourself. It’s things that you know and things that you’re passionate about. So just sitting there and being able to have conversations with the judges. Don’t view it as they’re interrogating you. It should be light. It should be fun.”

Miller said preparation included two-hour workshops every other Sunday starting towards the end of the school year. Plus, there were occasional practices in Grass Creek.

Contestants had to write a resume, and pageant director Adrianna Smith told the contestants that the interview questions would relate to what the contestants had written. Vanessa would quiz Vivian on the questions and try to come up with answers to prepare themselves.

“It definitely was a lot of work going into it,” Miller said. “I had to also on my own time study the questions for the interview, study the words that I was going to be asked on stage, study the fair topics and write and memorize my speech. And plan outfits, which actually took a long time. So it was a lot of prep work, but it paid off, so it was amazing.”

Though her mom and sister played big roles, Miller said she got her best advice from her dad, which was helpful for both the speech and interview.

“He’s told me this for the longest time, ‘If you think you’re going normal speed, you’re talking too fast,’” Miller said. “It’s also helped to have a mom who has been in the pageant before who kind of knows how to present yourself, so that definitely helped a lot. But the best advice I got was to slow down.”

Miller also said picking out outfits was more complicated than it sounds, especially the personality wear.

“It seems really simple to think of what kind of clothing you want to do and what items best represent you, but then you have to figure out how to present them in a way that looks cohesive and kind of works together,” Miller said. “And this year, it had to be something that you could dance in.”

Miller was asked what advice she would give to anybody thinking about entering.

“Go for it,” she said. “Do it. Be prepared that you are going to be at the fair everyday. You are going to be very involved with people and 4-Hers. But it’s amazing. I’ve already today had an amazing time with my court talking to people and talking to the kids here. Talking just to everybody.

“It’s a great way to get in touch with your community.”

Miller also is a member of Junior Leaders, shows pigs and does community building projects for 4-H. She also has a booth at the fair selling jewelry in the commercial building, and she will participate in the 4-H Tractor Pull, pulling her grandfather’s 1466.

She is the daughter of Joe and Brianne Miller of Rochester.