New Miss West Virginia hopes to empower others

By PEPPER VAN TASSELL Special to The Herald-Mail Jul 10, 2017 

Miss West Virginia, Tamia Hardy, stands beside a car that shuttled her during the Fourth of July parade in Shepherdstown, W.Va. The 22-year-old resident of Martinsburg, W.Va., wants to educate others about the effects of sexual assault.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — Tamia Hardy hopes to spend her reign as Miss West Virginia empowering youngsters and adults to take a stand against sexual assault.

The 22-year-old Martinsburg resident, who earned her Master’s in Business Administration degree in May from Shepherd University, was crowned the state’s first African-American pageant winner in June.

She earned the crown after answering a final-round question about how she would discuss her bystander-intervention platform —based on the work of “Stand Up, Don’t Stand By,” a rape-victim advocacy and prevention education group — with youngsters.

Hardy, who won her first pageant — Miss Berkeley County — in February, told the state judges about a visit she made to Page Jackson Elementary School in Charles Town, W.Va., where she explained to children the importance of speaking up for people who are in trouble, and standing up for what is right.

“I know firsthand how sexual assault can affect somebody’s life,” she said. “I want to educate people about sexual assault. A lot of cases could be prevented. If I could teach one person something, or even five people, that would mean something to me.”

Hardy graduated from Martinsburg High School in 2013, and earned her bachelor’s degree in business administration from Shepherd University three years later.

She said it was on the Shepherd campus that she first became involved in the group “Stand Up, Don’t Stand By,” and she knew that she wanted to bring attention to bystander intervention as her platform.

“I’m just really excited to go and represent the state of West Virginia,” she said.

Hardy plans to spend the next couple of months preparing for the Miss America pageant in Atlantic City on Sept. 6-10.

Her summer will be busy with appointments, practices and appearances, but Hardy said she plans to remain involved as a substitute at Little Eagle Child Care Center in Kearneysville, W.Va.

Hardy said she will work with Miss West Virginia Scholarship Organization sponsors on her mock-interview preparation, evening-gown design and fitness regimen.

Hardy, who was a student at Extreme Dance in Martinsburg for four years, performed a contemporary dance to “Rise Up” by Andra Day at both the county and state pageants, she said.

She said she is proud to be the state’s first African-American representative in the pageant, and hopes to bring home the state’s first Miss America crown.

“It’s been absolutely amazing. I’ve been so blessed throughout this experience,” she said. “I want anyone who is different in any way to realize that they can break free from the norms and do anything that they put their mind to.”

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