Jade Hansen crowned Miss Herriman

By Travis Barton | [email protected]

Say hello to Jade Hansen, the new Miss Herriman.  

A senior at Providence Hall High School, Hansen won the Miss Herriman Scholarship Pageant on Nov. 3 at Herriman High School. The ever-enthusiastic Hansen is a lifeguard, soccer player (she plays keeper and a little forward), pianist and HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America) club president at her school. 

As Miss Herriman, Hansen won a $2,000 scholarship to the college of her choice; she’s still deciding where she wants to go (“and taking suggestions,” she joked). She intends to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when she turns 19 next September before becoming a nurse. 

Montana Wood was first runner-up, and Sahviena Ballard was second attendant. 

The South Valley Journal caught up with Hansen shortly after her pageant coronation to find out more about “one of the best experiences” of her life.

What inspired you to enter the pageant?

I wanted to help out and serve my community and be a big part in the community. I had a friend back in 2010 who won Miss Herriman…and I was like, “Wow, I want to do that when I'm older.’

I never really saw myself doing pageants; this is the first pageant I've ever done But I want to go outside my comfort zone and try something new so I can help the community and be an inspiration to other little girls and then I ended up winning Miss Herriman. So I was like, ‘That's cool!’

How did you prepare for the pageant? 

I was a little out of my element, so I went to all the Saturday workshops starting in September until the pageant. I looked up interview questions and practiced interviews with my friends and my family to make sure I was up to date. 

I made sure to practice my talent; I did piano. I learned Clementi Sonatina to play and perform. So, there was a lot of preparation for it because I'm not as experienced as some of the other girls, so I had to do a lot of work outside of the workshops to get to where I was comfortable for interview and talent and on-stage questions. 

What did you learn about yourself throughout this whole process? 

I learned I'm really good at public speaking. I love to be in front of people and performing. I learned that I can do anything I set my mind to which was a little different than what I'm used to, but I was able to overcome that and overcome the self-doubt. 

I learned to gain a lot of self-confidence, because I'm not always super confident in myself. But going through the pageant, I learned that you have to be confident in yourself, and then the judges and the people will see that. And that will make you a more likable person. 

So I can use those (skills) in my everyday life, and I want to inspire other people to be able to have that too. 

What was the experience like being named Miss Herriman?

I was in shock! They called the second runner-up and the first runner up, and they didn't call my name, and I was like, “Oh my gosh, I'm so happy for these girls, and I'm going to be so excited for the Miss Herriman.” And then they called my name on Miss Herriman, and it took me a second (to realize). I was sitting there and was clapping and then I'm like, “Wait, that's totally me,” and I was totally in shock. 

I didn't expect it. I was doing it to have fun, hadn't done a pageant before and was super excited to just get to know the girls. When they called my name, I was in shock, but I was also super excited and super thankful to everyone who supported me, especially my family, my friends and the judges for being so great. 

It was just one of the best experiences I think I've ever had. I felt so happy and overjoyed that I was going to be able to be Miss Herriman. 

What is your platform and why did you choose it? 

My platform is “Protecting Our Athletes,” and it’s focusing on preventing athletic injuries.

I tore my ACL playing soccer my sophomore year, and before that I hadn't really worried about injuries. I was just kind of doing what my coach said. When I tore my ACL, it felt like the end of the world because I loved high school sports. Sports is what I do. 

I talked to my doctor and physical therapist, and they said it's all about your leg strength, hip strength and muscle strength. I thought, “If I had known this, I would have trained better.” I did some research, and I actually did a project that sophomore year and made a website on how to prevent ACL tears. So I want to expand on that and go to all different kinds of athletic injuries. I'm taking sports medicine right now, and we’ve learned how to prevent athletic injuries in football and lacrosse and every sport. 

So, I want to help athletes not have to go through what I went through because it was such a hard experience. I want them to be prepared and understand the risks of those kinds of injuries. It changed my life, and now I'm here and able to use it in a platform, but I want to bring awareness to all kinds of injuries. 

Tell us about the influential people in your life, particularly towards winning Miss Herriman?

My parents were huge supporters of this; they helped me to be able to overcome anything, and they were super proud of me. They told me before the pageant, “Whatever happens, we're proud of you for doing this, for stepping outside of your comfort zone.” I was super excited for that because it’s always great to have parent support. 

Then Sarah Pettit (pageant director)—I've never done a pageant before, and she was so welcoming. She was my pageant mom  and helped me with everything, checked up on me, made sure I was up to date. She called me right before pageant and sent me a really cute message of how good of a job I was going to do. 

She was always so supportive of me, and I wouldn't have made it through without Sarah's help. She was a huge inspiration.