Miss West Virginia teenager Allison Dodson prepares for the next chapter of her educational journey after a year of service | Newspaper

MARTINSBURG — If there's one thing you can say about Miss West Virginia teenager Allison Dodson, it's that she's become a master of time management throughout her year on duty.

In a recent interview, Dodson said she still plans to attend Costal Carolina University in the fall, but she announced Wednesday that she will now pursue a double major in biochemistry and marine science.

Although she looks forward to spending her days in sunny Conway, South Carolina, she will miss her home state when she leaves in the fall.

“I’m excited to come down and begin my next journey in my education,” she said. “And I've always been one to stay on top of my studies and my schooling. It's super important to me.

While it was very important for Dodson to keep up with his teaching workload this year, it also came with a high level of difficulty.

“It was definitely a challenge,” she said. “I had to find even more time management from what I thought I already had.”

In addition to her dual enrollment, where she received an impressive 38 hours of college credit, Dodson also remained active in school and college athletic organizations. After receiving her title, Dodson found that she could not participate in all of the activities she was used to participating in during her freshman year.

“I definitely had to make some tough decisions between playing sports and different societies and clubs that I had been a part of, but I feel like I did everything I could this year,” he said. -she declared. “Now that I'm going to school, I'll just have time to do school, so hopefully that will allow me to be more successful than I already have.”

The recent graduate successfully dual enrolled at Washington High School and Shepherd University this year, while promoting her community service initiative, Project HOPE, which stands for Help our Planet Earth.

“I’ve done a lot this year with it,” she said. “I am excited to partner with Costal Carolina’s sustainability group. It's a big school that's going green, and they're doing a lot of different things on campus that I'm going to be collaborating with as well.

One of the benefits of serving as Miss West Virginia Teen was the opportunity for Dodson to spend quality time with her mother during her travels across the state. Together, they took advantage of every stop they made in the Mountain State to visit a nearby river or stream. She said they are using this time to appreciate the beauty of the state, while removing trash along the waterways.

“It’s good for your state of mind,” she said. “You get out into nature and you clean up the environment, and for me, that’s something that makes me happy. I can explain what I do to other passers-by and hopefully inspire them.

Her list of travel appearances has also taken her to stages in other states.

“I’ve also traveled out of state,” Dodson said. “One of my most distant appearances was when I went to speak at Texas A&M University. It was for the National Society of High School Scholars. I am an ambassador for them. They actually flew me to Texas to speak as Allison Dodson, but also as a teenage Miss West Virginia.

One of the topics covered at Texas A&M was how she manages to accomplish all the assets in her schedule, while remaining focused on her studies.

Looking back on his favorite appearance, Dodson said it was an event called Owl's Pals. She attended this event with Miss West Virginia Karrington Childress.

“It was in Wheeling,” she said. “We went there, and it was for younger girls, and it built their confidence and just inspired them about themselves and being able to really be who they were when Karrington and I were there. gone. It's a very small town…all the girls were so interested in what Karrington and I had to say.

Another highlight of the Owl's Pals event was seeing participants walk out of the event with the crowns and sashes they had made together.

“When each of them left, they each had something positive to say about us or themselves, and that's something that made me come out a better person too,” Dodson said.

Next week, Dodson will work with Miss West Virginia's Teen 2024 contestants to prepare them for the pageant, which will be held Thursday through Saturday at Airborne Church in Martinsburg.