Huntington High student set to represent state in national competition

25/12/2017

http://www.missnews.com.br/noticias/huntington-high-student-set-to-represent-state-in-national-competition/

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By JOSHUA QUALLS Dec 24, 2017 Updated 15 hrs ago (1)


Sholten Singer/The Herald-Dispatch Trinity Tiffany, a Huntington High School student, won the Miss West Virginia Teen pageant in October in Morgantown. The 16-year-old will represent the Mountain State at the Miss Teen USA pageant in Phoenix, Ariz., in the summer of 2018.


Sholten Singer/The Herald-Dispat


HUNTINGTON - When she's not doing schoolwork or practicing dance, Miss West Virginia Teen 2018 is hanging out with friends who have special needs.


Trinity Tiffany, 16, started Team Unity by herself when she got into high school to support and encourage kids who have learning difficulties and disabilities. She became passionate about helping students with special needs when her teachers had her tutor them in elementary school.


While she never had much interest in pageants, Tiffany wanted to compete in Miss West Virginia Teen to represent her home state and won the competition Oct. 8 in Morgantown. She was motivated to accomplish her goals, which also will include graduating a year early from Huntington High School at 16 years old in May 2018, because she grew up with strong female role models in her family and in the media she consumed.


"Hopefully I can start that mission as Miss West Virginia Teen," she said.


Tiffany and her friends in Team Unity meet every Wednesday morning at school and eat breakfast, and they usually listen to music and dance together in their free time. She has 72 members in total and five on rotation to meet with the special needs kids.


They recently made friendship bracelets together, and Tiffany put together treat bags to give to the special needs kids for Halloween. She hopes to expand the program, possibly even to other high schools like Cabell Midland.



"I'm super excited about it," she said. "I'm passing that down to juniors, sophomores and freshmen, so it will continue after I graduate."


Since she won Miss West Virginia Teen, Tiffany has added a variety of public appearances to her busy schedule, including some in other states, but they haven't fazed her. In fact, the restless, energetic teenager loves the traveling and the many other opportunities that have come with the crown.


"At first, it was like a dream - I couldn't even think, and I was ... more nervous after I won and excited about the year," she said, noting the best part about the pageant was meeting new people. "I'm still in shock a little bit. But then I'll get a notification from my ... website or a text from my manager, and I'll be like, 'Oh my gosh, I have shoes to fill.'"


One weekend in October, Tiffany did a Girl Scout singalong in Fairmont, West Virginia, and traveled to Indiana to scope out the competition for the 2018 Miss Teen USA pageant, to be conducted in the summer in Phoenix. Those events were just a fraction of the many events she'll be expected to attend leading up to the Miss Teen USA contest, and she also has to regularly maintain several social media accounts.



"You never know what opportunities or friendships you can make from things like this," she said. "It's really opened up a lot of doors."


Although Tiffany's dad lives in New York, she has a good relationship with him and visits during holidays and other big events. She doesn't have any full siblings, but she has three half-siblings and is closest with her 23-year-old half-sister, Taryn.


Tiffany has one best friend, Olivia Jenkins, but she's otherwise open to friendship with anyone. She doesn't have a clique, and she said all her friends are super outgoing and fun.


Pageants were always her grandmother Donna Irwin's dream, but Tiffany said her mom was the driving force outside her own motivation to get her through the Miss West Virginia Teen competition.


"She's been here through it all," she said. "I'm always with her, and she's ... always the one who pushes me and encourages me."


Having skipped her junior year of high school so she could graduate a year early, Tiffany will start classes at Marshall University for the fall 2018 semester. She's undecided on a major for now, but she's pretty confident she wants to go into either dentistry or law.


The orthodontist may not be everyone's favorite person to visit, but Tiffany had a good experience with braces when she was younger. Her interest in law goes back to those strong female role models - she was drawn to Reese Witherspoon's Elle in "Legally Blonde," and she has a chihuahua named Bruiser to prove it.


If she takes either one of those paths, Tiffany likely will go to the University of Kentucky or West Virginia University because they aren't too far from home.


She is also interested in learning about political science, but she's not as enamored with the thought of becoming a politician.


"I'm still figuring that out," she said. "I have a year until I go to Marshall, so it's either being a lawyer as I wanted to be my whole life or this new passion for teeth."


In addition to Bruiser, Trinity has two other dogs - a Great Dane named Singer and a poodle named Skipper - and a 1-and-a-half-year-old hermit crab named Dog.


Competitive dance, which she said helped with her stage presence during the competition, has been a major part of Tiffany's life since she was 11, when she switched to it from gymnastics. She still does some tumbling as part of her workout routine, but her time at Bridget's Dance Academy from 4-9 p.m. Monday through Thursday is all about dance and teaching little kids her techniques.


Tiffany's favorite style of dance is contemporary, but she also enjoys hip-hop and modern. She hopes to continue dancing in college and make extra money while she's there by teaching it in her free time.


"In the weeks leading up to the pageant, it was really all mental," she said, noting it felt just like a dance competition once she got on stage. "I was there physically with a healthy lifestyle, and I had the stage presence - it was all just getting in the game, getting ready for interview and on-stage questions."


To that end, Tiffany hired Toni Jones of First Impressions in Huntington to help with a quick, four-week crash course in pageantry. She also had some help over the past year from her photographer-turned-friend, Steven Vance, who has given her pointers about how to conduct herself in front of cameras.


After she won Miss West Virginia Teen, while she was still in Morgantown, Tiffany was provided a manager to help her move on to Miss Teen USA.


"Win or lose, it didn't matter to me," Tiffany said, noting she is doing all of this for her future but wants to make the best of the experience and learn as much as she can. "I was just there to have fun."


Know someone we should feature?


Every week in The Herald-Dispatch, you'll find stories about the people in your community. From our weekly People section to our news coverage, we like to highlight folks across the Tri-State.


http://www.herald-dispatch.com/features_entertainment/huntington-high-student-set-to-represent-state-in-national-competition/article_cae6e2f0-4269-5bfd-9bea-6c1749b4d6cb.html


 

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