Miss Mississippi Volunteer Has Been Busy Since Winning The Crown

TUPELO, MISS. (WCBI) – A 22-year-old Northeast Mississippi woman inspiring others with her story of overcoming obstacles to win top honors at a beauty pageant.

There was no downtime for Rachel Shumaker, after she was crowned Miss Mississippi Volunteer.

“I hit the ground on Sunday, July 11, I started that morning at six-thirty, haven’t stopped since,” Shumaker said.

The Miss Mississippi Volunteer Pageant is part of the ‘Miss Volunteer America national Organization, which is active in 48 states. Shumaker says ‘Miss Volunteers America” has some traditional aspects of pageantry, but much of the emphasis is placed on volunteerism. Rachel’s platform is called “I’am Titanium”

“It’s inspired by the lyrics of the song, ‘Titanium” It began when I was about 15 years old as scoliosis advocacy, I had scoliosis as a child , went through surgery, had 18 screws and two ten-inch rods, made of titanium, in my spine, started as scoliosis screenings, doing work in children’s hospitals, I realized it was bigger than that, titanium was not just about scoliosis, it applied to anyone who had been through any challenge in their life, which is most of us,” she said.

She is an advocate for Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital and also helps other nonprofits, such as the Salvation Army. As Miss Mississippi Volunteer, Rachel is also an ambassador for the Mississippi Highway Patrol’s DRIVE campaign, whose goal is to reduce the number of teen driving fatalities statewide.

“If we through this campaign can save one family the grief of losing a child or teach better driving habits, we all have bad driving habits we’re trying to break, it’s easy to get carried away in the excitement of getting a driver’s license and forget it’s dangerous to drive,” Shumaker said.

Rachel Shumaker is busy preparing for the national Miss Volunteer America pageant. That is coming up next spring in Jackson Tennessee. She is working hard, hoping to bring home the first Miss Volunteer America crown to Mississippi.

Rachel graduated from Ingomar High School. She has a bachelor’s in political science and a bachelor’s in communication and PR from MSU. If you would like her to come speak to your group, go to the Miss Mississippi Volunteer Facebook page and send her a message about your event.