Miss America sets art degree as post-reign aim

Miss America Savvy Shields is photographed Wednesday atop the Empire State Building in New York City. She plans to use the contest scholarship money to pursue a master’s degree in fine arts at the University of Arkansas.
Miss America Savvy Shields is photographed Wednesday atop the Empire State Building in New York City. She plans to use the contest scholarship money to pursue a master’s degree in fine arts at the University of Arkansas.

After a busy year as Miss America, Savvy Shields said she plans to return to Fayetteville to finish her fine arts degree at the University of Arkansas.

Shields said she wants to use the $50,000 in Miss America scholarship money to pursue a master's degree in fine arts and "hopefully launch me forward in my art career."

"Whether that means working in an art museum or teaching at the collegiate level, I know I have to be surrounded by the arts," she said in an email Wednesday.

Shields won the national title Sunday in Atlantic City, N.J. She is a Fayetteville native and daughter of Todd G. Shields, dean of UA's Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences.

[PHOTOS: Miss Arkansas crowned new Miss America + more photos of Savvy Shields]

Shields is the third Miss Arkansas to become Miss America.

Donna Axum Whitworth, an El Dorado native who was Miss America in 1964, returned to Fayetteville after her year of wearing the crown to finish her bachelor's degree in 1966 and get a master's degree in 1969, both in speech and drama.

Elizabeth Ward Gracen, a Russellville native who was Miss America in 1982, used her scholarship money to study acting in New York City. Although she had studied at three Arkansas colleges, Gracen didn't return to her home state to finish college. Instead she embarked on an acting career.

Gracen said she had gone to college to become an accountant or a lawyer, but performing in pageants changed her perspective.

"Performing every day, I realized I kind of enjoyed that," Gracen said Wednesday.

Gracen said she had been on an airplane once before she became Miss America. The year she held the title, Gracen said, she traveled about 200,000 miles, most of it in the air. Whitworth estimated that she traveled 250,000 miles during in her year as Miss America.

Perhaps because she was the first Arkansan to hold the title, Whitworth has been known her entire adult life, particularly in Arkansas, as a Miss America or former Miss America. By contrast, Gracen has put some distance between herself and the title.

Gracen said she stopped putting Miss America on her resume after she moved to California in the late 1980s. She was a budding actor and didn't want the title to conjure a particular image.

"When I moved out to LA, I never really told anyone I was Miss America out here," Gracen said Wednesday. "It kind of screws everything up as a character."

Gracen has worked as an actress and filmmaker. She has a production company called Flapper Films. She also has written a children's book titled Shalilly.

While being Miss America opened doors for her, Gracen said, she would like to see the competition move into the 21st century.

"I feel the competition is outdated and smacks of female objectification," she said. "I just think that instead of making these fabulous young women parade around in a swimsuit, the Miss America Organization could be elevated and revamped into a contemporary, progressive platform that encourages all young women to strive for excellence. It would take a major overhaul, but I think it's due for one.

"When I say 'all women,' I mean women of all sizes, shapes. It shouldn't matter what she looks like in a swimsuit. That is so old school and boring. Don't get me wrong, I think the young women and the people working behind the scenes are fantastic. All that hard work and energy could be focused on an even loftier goal -- creating powerful leaders for the future -- women!"

Gracen said she knows about this type of objectification because she "wasted a lot of her adult career objectifying herself." In 1992, Gracen became the first former Miss America to appear on the cover of Playboy magazine and in a nude pictorial feature.

Gracen said it has taken a while for her to develop a real sense of self.

"I had to wade through all the perfection issues," she said. "If you can't be the most charming person in the room, then who are you?"

But Gracen said she wouldn't trade the Miss America experience, and she's happy for Shields.

"I hope she has a wonderful year," Gracen said. "It's a fantastic opportunity for her, and I'm really happy for her."

In an email Wednesday, Shields said training for the Miss America competition has become a "lifestyle." But dancing, working out and eating healthy were already part of her routine.

After winning Miss Arkansas Outstanding Teen in 2009, Shields lost at the Miss America's Outstanding Teen competition. She said the experience taught her that being imperfect was a human trait.

"It was the process of failing that taught me if I ever want to be successful, failure has to be a part of the equation," Shields said.

Shields won the Miss Heart of the Ozarks Pageant, which took her to the Miss Arkansas pageant in July.

Competition gave her confidence, she said.

"Competing in the Miss America Organization taught me that my insecurities are not my limitations," Shields wrote in the email. "That my self-doubt at times may seem to be reality, but they hold no truth. I learned to push myself out of my comfort zone, and to never be OK with contentment."

Shields said she was able to combine pageant competition with two of her other areas of interest, dance and art.

"I am going to strive to stay true to who I am, and be as authentic as possible in the process," Shields said. "I want to be relatable to all and hopefully inspire others to do the same."

Although she has avoided Miss America activities for a while, Gracen said, she went with 24 other former Miss Americas in January for a weekend in California wine country.

"We had a good time spending that weekend together and getting to know each other," she said. "We had this one very odd thing in common. I'm connected with something that is kind of an abstract concept. Once I was there, it was like being swallowed up in this great warmth and affection. I couldn't stop talking about it for a week after.

"I could probably call on any of those women if I needed something, and they would help me."

Metro on 09/15/2016

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