Chelsea Welch Interview
Miss West Virginia Teen USA 2007 (4th runner up @ Miss Teen USA 2007)
Why did you decide to compete in the Miss West Virginia Teen USA pageant?
My older sisters had been involved with pageantry since I was very young and I entered a local festival pageant to follow in their footsteps. This local pageant was gracious enough to send me to the Miss West Virginia Teen USA 2007 pageant with most of my fees paid. I traded up old clothes and dresses at a consignment shop for my entire pageant wardrobe and went to the state pageant with very little experience and a lot of nerves.
What was going through your head when you were announced as the 4th runner up at Miss Teen USA?
To be honest, not much. It was all very sudden and I went from possibly becoming the next Miss Teen USA to being ushered offstage in about 2 minutes. It’s a very tough thing mentally to prepare oneself both for success and failure on live national television as a 16 year old. It took a while for everything to set in. I was so incredibly honored to be selected not only in the top 15 and top 10 but also in the infamous top 5 that I remembered watching in years past. All the girls I competed with were such genuinely great teen role models that I can honestly say I would have been happy no matter who won, so I was not surprised at all by the results. The other girls in the top 5 were so stunning and kind and I was very lucky to share the stage with them that night.
What would be your most memorable moment during your reign as Miss West Virginia Teen USA?
I made several interesting appearances but none trumps the time that I was invited to be a guest of honor at the West Virginia Strawberry Festival parade, the largest in the state. I was fortunate enough to meet (at the time Governor) now U.S. Senator Joe Manchin. He had always had such a celebrity status in my mind and I was beyond excited. He came to greet several other queens alongside me and went down the line giving each a hug and kiss on the cheek. I was last, so I knew what was coming. He leaned in and I leaned in, but I went the wrong way…our lips briefly met and I was mortified. Let’s just say he probably hopes that story never gets out.
Why did you decide to major in Human Biology at Brown University?
Going to Brown was probably the best decision I have ever made regarding my future. It is the definition of a liberal arts college and we also had an open curriculum, so I had a lot of freedom to explore my academic options. I originally thought I would study political science, but a terribly philosophic class freshman year ruined that idea. I took an intro biology with the famous Professor Ken Miller and was hooked. I was especially interested in ecology and evolution, which is what I went on to major in, technically. The Human Biology degree is an interdisciplinary program in which students pick a focus. Mine was ecosystems, evolution, and the environment. This allowed me to take classes in all my areas of interest-ecology, geology, anthropology, environmental studies, animal behavior, and biology. I am proud to say that I graduated this past May with a Bachelor’s of Science, a 3.9 GPA, and as a member of Sigma Xi scientific research honors society for my senior research on urban coyote scent marking behaviour.
Are you planning on competing in another pageant in the near future?
I do plan to compete for Miss West Virginia USA sometime in the near future, although I cannot say exactly when as I am a new graduate student at the University of Georgia and that keeps me fairly busy. I loved my experience as Miss WV Teen USA and want to represent the wonderful state of West Virginia again someday, this time on the Miss USA and hopefully Miss Universe stage.
Lastly, what have you been up to since your reign as Miss West Virginia Teen USA ended?
Goodness it’s been such a long time! I graduated valedictorian of my high school, completed my studies at Brown University, and am now starting my graduate career at the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources at the University of Georgia. I am enrolled in the Peace Corps Master’s International program, which combines my graduate education with Peace Corps service and I will be studying international wildlife conservation and ecology. I also spent 4 months backpacking in Tanzania in 2010 learning about wildlife conservation/development of East Africa and completing a month-long independent study project on Blue Monkeys in a semi-rural village.
My older sisters had been involved with pageantry since I was very young and I entered a local festival pageant to follow in their footsteps. This local pageant was gracious enough to send me to the Miss West Virginia Teen USA 2007 pageant with most of my fees paid. I traded up old clothes and dresses at a consignment shop for my entire pageant wardrobe and went to the state pageant with very little experience and a lot of nerves.
What was going through your head when you were announced as the 4th runner up at Miss Teen USA?
To be honest, not much. It was all very sudden and I went from possibly becoming the next Miss Teen USA to being ushered offstage in about 2 minutes. It’s a very tough thing mentally to prepare oneself both for success and failure on live national television as a 16 year old. It took a while for everything to set in. I was so incredibly honored to be selected not only in the top 15 and top 10 but also in the infamous top 5 that I remembered watching in years past. All the girls I competed with were such genuinely great teen role models that I can honestly say I would have been happy no matter who won, so I was not surprised at all by the results. The other girls in the top 5 were so stunning and kind and I was very lucky to share the stage with them that night.
What would be your most memorable moment during your reign as Miss West Virginia Teen USA?
I made several interesting appearances but none trumps the time that I was invited to be a guest of honor at the West Virginia Strawberry Festival parade, the largest in the state. I was fortunate enough to meet (at the time Governor) now U.S. Senator Joe Manchin. He had always had such a celebrity status in my mind and I was beyond excited. He came to greet several other queens alongside me and went down the line giving each a hug and kiss on the cheek. I was last, so I knew what was coming. He leaned in and I leaned in, but I went the wrong way…our lips briefly met and I was mortified. Let’s just say he probably hopes that story never gets out.
Why did you decide to major in Human Biology at Brown University?
Going to Brown was probably the best decision I have ever made regarding my future. It is the definition of a liberal arts college and we also had an open curriculum, so I had a lot of freedom to explore my academic options. I originally thought I would study political science, but a terribly philosophic class freshman year ruined that idea. I took an intro biology with the famous Professor Ken Miller and was hooked. I was especially interested in ecology and evolution, which is what I went on to major in, technically. The Human Biology degree is an interdisciplinary program in which students pick a focus. Mine was ecosystems, evolution, and the environment. This allowed me to take classes in all my areas of interest-ecology, geology, anthropology, environmental studies, animal behavior, and biology. I am proud to say that I graduated this past May with a Bachelor’s of Science, a 3.9 GPA, and as a member of Sigma Xi scientific research honors society for my senior research on urban coyote scent marking behaviour.
Are you planning on competing in another pageant in the near future?
I do plan to compete for Miss West Virginia USA sometime in the near future, although I cannot say exactly when as I am a new graduate student at the University of Georgia and that keeps me fairly busy. I loved my experience as Miss WV Teen USA and want to represent the wonderful state of West Virginia again someday, this time on the Miss USA and hopefully Miss Universe stage.
Lastly, what have you been up to since your reign as Miss West Virginia Teen USA ended?
Goodness it’s been such a long time! I graduated valedictorian of my high school, completed my studies at Brown University, and am now starting my graduate career at the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources at the University of Georgia. I am enrolled in the Peace Corps Master’s International program, which combines my graduate education with Peace Corps service and I will be studying international wildlife conservation and ecology. I also spent 4 months backpacking in Tanzania in 2010 learning about wildlife conservation/development of East Africa and completing a month-long independent study project on Blue Monkeys in a semi-rural village.