Crowning Achievement: Liberty student wins Miss Virginia Teen USA, heads to national competition

Liberty University sophomore Madyson Blizzard was crowned Miss Virginia Teen USA just a few weeks ago and is now headed to Miami for a chance to win the title of Miss Teen USA on Aug. 26.

“I am still on cloud nine. It’s just crazy to see something I’ve worked so hard for come to fruition,” Blizzard said.

Blizzard, originally from Purcellville, Va., is studying national security and intelligence in the Helms School of Government. She also serves as a student worker on the Liberty University Marketing Department’s social media team.

This is her third year competing in the Miss Virginia Teen USA pageant, and her first time landing on the podium. She began competing in pageants just a few years ago, after watching her older sister compete in the Miss Virginia Teen USA pageant. She said she has found camaraderie among the contestants.

“The women that I’m alongside, competing with, or in the Miss division or the team division … they have these ambitions and goals, and I love that because I’m the same way,” Blizzard said.

As part of her duties, Blizzard will have opportunities throughout the upcoming year to make public appearances around Virginia and promote her personal community platform, The Light Within, an initiative that highlights nutrition education and mental health advocacy for girls and young women. Blizzard wrote a cookbook last year titled “Girl Dinner: Food, Faith, & Becoming Her” that touches on these topics. She is donating a portion of the proceeds to local youth mentorship programs.

“I believe the internal health is just as important as your outside health, and then you can go achieve your goals,” Blizzard said. “That’s what I want to share with young people across the commonwealth this year, and hopefully bring it on a national level if I have the honor of being Miss Teen USA.”

Heading onto the national stage, Blizzard said she is grateful for her strong support system that has helped her balance life as a full-time student with a rigorous competition schedule.

“I’m just the thing you see on the outside. (My family and coaches) have all poured so much into me — wisdom, support, and practical advice — to help me get to where I am today. I am so grateful for every single one of them.”

Through it all, Blizzard said her faith has remained the most important aspect of her life, shaping how she carries herself in competition.

“Staying true to who I am as a daughter of Christ, and clothing myself in humility, walking in dignity with what I wear, with how I present myself — those things are really big and a firm foundation of my faith,” she said.  “I just hope to glorify God throughout this reign and this platform that He’s given me, which is a huge blessing.”

The Miss Teen USA final competition will be broadcast live on the CW Network from 8-10 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 26.