ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR) – WFXR welcomed Miss Virginia 2024 Carlehr Swanson into the studio to share the upcoming Pageant at the Berglund Center.
This is a chance for the women competing for a chance to win 10’s of thousands of dollars and the title of Miss Virginia 2025.
Carlehr is not only Miss Virginia, but she is working for her Doctorate and multiple master’s degrees. She also has a love for music.
Carleher said, “It is called Bridging the Divide, Music is Unity. And I started it in the eighth grade, so my grandmother Gladys, growing up, I was very close to her, and she fractured her back, so I would go and I would visit her in a rehabilitation center. I realized that a lot of the residents didn’t have visitors, so I would go and sing and play the piano. I realized me being there for a few minutes of the day made them feel less lonely.”
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She also told WFXR that since the eighth grade, she has been going to schools and nursing homes and sharing the importance of music with everyone.
She also went to school for Jazz Vocal Performance and grew up singing in church, and will perform all over the state of Virginia with a Jazz trio where she sings and plays the piano.
Carleher also has an upcoming project of original music called ‘growing pains’ at the end of the month of June.
Miss Virginia is 90 years old, and this year will be $80,000 worth of scholarships, and girls will be coming from all over the state. Miss America will be making an appearance along with the CEO of Miss America.
She explained that Miss Virginia has been on a 10-year journey with six tries in the Miss Virginia Pageant, with being the third runner up twice, and fourth runner up. Carleher did say she learned a lot about herself in those years, even during the difficult times.
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She said, “You know, seeing the little girls and that if I can do this, I can persevere, you can also do this. “I think it’s important just to keep going and always to put your best foot forward I think about so many things whether that’s music whether that’s college you’re always going to face difficulties, but I found the most success I’ve had is just by keep going waking up every day and putting one foot in front of the other.”
There is a weeklong group of events happening for the participants, but the preliminaries start on June 26 and the finals will be on June 28 at the Burlund Center. Preliminaries are on June 26 and 27. Finals night will be on the 28th and include multiple talent competitions.
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