Miss North Dakota 2004 Sara Schelkoph
Hometown: Grand Forks
Talent: Dance
Platform: Nurses for Our Nation
Local title: Miss Fort Abercrombie
Sara Schelkoph, RN, Miss North Dakota 2004, is a Greater Grand Forks native who comes from a family of seven children. Her parents are Grant and Mary Schelkoph of East Grand Forks, MN.
In June of 2003, Sara was crowned Miss North Dakota 2004 and represented our State at the Miss America pageant in Atlantic City, NJ in September. Sara spent her year as Miss North Dakota making public appearances and promoting her platform issue, "Nurses for Our Nation." She acted as a role model for our youth, challenging them to go after their dreams and aspirations through her school tour presentation, "The Power of a Dream."
Sara is a 2001 summa cum laude/senior honors graduate of the University of North Dakota. She has been employed as a Registered Nurse in the Family Birthing Center at Altru Hospital since graduation.
When not at work, Sara enjoys dancing with the North Dakota Ballet Company and performing in Community Theater productions. Future ambitions for Sara include: graduate school, becoming a national motivational speaker and eventually teaching at a university school of nursing.
Comments from Sara's year as Miss North Dakota 2004:
"The highest reward for your work is not what you get for it, but what you become by it." - John C. Maxwell
My life did a complete 180 degree direction change when I was honored with the responsibility of being Miss North Dakota 2004 on June 7th, 2003. It was the most thrilling moment of my life, even better than graduating from college!
In my year of service, I traveled to both coasts. The Atlantic coast for the Miss America competition and the Pacific coast for a nursing fundraiser with Johnson & Johnson's Campaign for Nursing's Future. I traveled to Washington, DC, Atlantic City, NJ, Billings, MT, Los Angeles, CA, Orlando, FL, Grand Rapids, MN and up, down and all around North Dakota, putting about 25,000 miles on my car.
What I remember from my year as Miss North Dakota is not the numerous appearances I made throughout the year, but the countless encounters with so many precious people. Here are just a few glimpses…
Meeting the Miss North Dakota Board and all of the wonderful women who participated in the competition with me.
In Washington, DC, meeting Senators Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan and Congressman Earl Pomeroy, who so eagerly lent their time and attention to listen to the concerns I have about the national nursing shortage.
In Atlantic City, NJ, meeting fifty amazing women from across the United States who are doing remarkable things for their states and are excellent role models for the youth of our nation.
Speaking with nurses all over the nation who have said, "Thank you for being a voice for nursing! We are so proud of you."
The new nurse graduate who wrote to me and said that she looked to me as a nurse mentor, desiring to be a nurse leader like me.
The student who confided in me that before I came and spoke, she was so discouraged with her ACT score that she had decided not to go to college. Now, she is going.
In looking back on my year as Miss North Dakota, I realized that I was not the same woman who came to Williston the year before. I had grown in confidence, stature and poise. My love for North Dakota and more importantly, the great people who lived here, had grown exponentially. I was now confident to address a room full of kindergartners as well as an auditorium full of thousands of people. These achievements were all attributed to being involved with the Miss North Dakota Organization.
Participating in the Miss North Dakota Scholarship program was one of the best decisions I ever made. I would encourage any woman who has ever entertained the idea of becoming a participant to go for it. It will change your life forever!
