Since she took the Miss Ball State crown in January 2010, Savannah Teegarden has been making public appearances and interacting with the community. But for her appearance this week at the 158th Delaware County Fair, Teegarden decided she would sport her tiara with a pair of comfortable jeans.
"I'm wearing jeans tonight, and a nice top," she said. "You know it's about looking your best, but at the same time I don't want to be wearing a cocktail dress in the middle of something where everyone else is wearing jeans or something along those lines."
Representing Ball State has been important for Teegarden, but she said representing her community is something she enjoys and does for free.
"A lot of the people running for office have said, ‘Hey, if you wear my T-shirt I'll get you a free corndog,' but other than that there's never really anything I get out of it," she said.
Teegarden was a judge at one of the newer Delaware County Fair events, the Delaware County Idol, a localized version of American idol. This was a first-time experience for the senior telecommunications major, because she had never taken part at a county fair, nor had she played the role of the judge before.
"With me being a pageant girl, you know you're the one that goes up there and is put out there in front of people, and you are hoping that the judges will like you. So in this case it was kind of difficult for me to just judge them," she said. "This is the first time I've judged something, I've never judged a pageant or anything similar, so it was nice."
The summer is an important time for title holders, and Teegarden has had to schedule her time between classes, her internship in Chicago and going out to community events. Just last month, Teegarden participated in the Miss Indiana pageant, a week-long event that required her to carefully balance her time.
"Preparing for Miss Indiana was very, very difficult. I had to get up early in the morning, work out, and then go to classes, and then work out again, and practice interviews. There's so much that goes along with this event," she said.
Through her six months as winner of the Miss Ball State pageant, Teegarden said she has discovered that her favorite part of being Miss Ball State was getting to run into alumni or students.
"While I was out in Zionsville competing for Miss Indiana there were a lot of fellow Cardinals and alumni that talked about Ball State, and it's really neat because I know that not only am I representing the people that study or work at Ball State now, but also all of the people that have attended Ball State."
Teegarden will still be attending other events throughout the summer, including the Indiana State Fair on Aug. 7, where she will participate in a parade representing Ball State University.
"It will be nice to be out there and meet with alumni," she said. "It's really nice to be the one girl in Central Indiana representing the university."
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