JULY 1, 2016, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A5
KeizerCommunity
KEIZERTIMES.COM
Keizer woman competing for Miss Oregon
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
Hannah Patterson’s dream
is to become a professional ac-
tor and if she happens to be
crowned Miss Oregon or even
Miss America on the way, so
be it.
“The scholarship money is
the biggest pull for me,” Pat-
terson said. “I want to go to
grad school and I’d like to
do so without accumulating
a bunch of student debt. The
Miss American organization
is the largest scholarship pro-
vider to women in the world.
Trying to work through and
pay for school as much as pos-
sible, that part of it appealed to
me a lot.”
Patterson got the idea to
try pageants from her sister-
in-law, Havilah, who was
named Miss Emerald Valley
and competed for Miss Ore-
gon in 2011. The two watched
the Miss America pageant to-
gether on television in 2012
and Patterson registered for
Miss Marion-Polk the follow-
ing week.
“At the time I was studying
theater and I’m comfortable
on stage and I like perform-
ing,” Patterson said. “I’m pret-
ty girly which is a big part of
it, at least the stage parts of it.”
Patterson was voted Mar-
ion-Polk fi rst runner-up in
2013 and then again in 2014.
After a year off to focus on
graduating from Portland State
University with her bachelor’s
degree in theater arts, she re-
turned to the competition on
March 26 and was one of two
Submitted
Miss Capital City, Hannah Patterson, threw out the fi rst pitch at
Satuday night’s Salem-Keizer Volcanoes game.
girls out of eight to qualify for
Miss Oregon.
As Miss Capital City, Pat-
terson, and Audri Rousseau,
who was crowned Miss Mari-
on-Polk County on the same
night, will compete against 21
other women for Miss Or-
egon.
“This year coming back
had a lot to do with proving
to myself that I could do it
and that I wanted to continue
to grow in this program,” Pat-
terson said. “The two times I
competed previously, I didn’t
have the opportunity to go to
Miss Oregon or to represent
the program as a title holder
throughout the year and I
wanted that opportunity.”
The Miss Oregon pageant
started Monday, June 27 in
Seaside with rehearsals. In-
terviews took place Tuesday.
Patterson competed in pre-
liminary swimsuit and eve-
ning gown on Wednesday and
talent and on-stage question
Thursday.
For talent, which is one of
Patterson’s favorite catego-
ries, she performed a comedic
monologue from the Nora
and Delia Ephron play Love,
Loss, and What I Wore.
On Saturday night, all 23
contestants will come on stage
and the top 10 will be an-
nounced and will compete in
swimsuit, evening gown, talent
and on-stage question for the
title of Miss Oregon, which
comes with a $10,000 schol-
arship and a spot in the Miss
America pageant.
Patterson was awarded a
$1,250 scholarship for Miss
Capital City and everyone
who competes at Miss Or-
egon gets at least $500.
Patterson, who has lived
in Keizer her entire life other
than four years at Portland
State, would be honored to
represent Oregon at Miss
America.
“I’m really proud to be an
Oregonian,” Patterson said.
“Other than the fact that ev-
erything is green and beauti-
ful, people from here are really
nice people. I think our state
is under-appreciated in the
Miss America organization or
sometimes overlooked.”
Only one Oregonian, Katie
Harman in 2002, has ever won
Miss America.
Studying theater, Patterson
has progressive friends who
see beauty pageants as anti-
feminist and only skin deep
but she wants to show that’s
far from the case.
Her personal platform is
closing the gender wage gap.
“‘I’m not what they think
of when they picture Miss
America so to be able to say
I compete in that and it’s a
really amazing organization,
not anti-feminist at all, they
give lots of scholarship money
to women,” Patterson said.
“They’re all about promoting
women and doing great things
for women.”
The interview, which is 25
percent of the overall score,
and on-stage questions, which
are 5 percent, have helped Pat-
terson stay up to date on poli-
tics and current events.
“The organization has
helped me, one, how to study
those things and how to have
an opinion and two, how to
feel comfortable being asked
those questions,” she said.
Being Miss Capital City has
also given her opportunities
she wouldn’t normally have,
like throwing out the fi rst
pitch of the Salem-Keizer Vol-
canoes game Saturday, June 25.
Patterson’s family had host-
ed Volcano players the past
four summers so she was very
familiar with the minor league
baseball program.
“One of my life dreams is
to throw an opening pitch at
a major league baseball game
so this is kind of the local step
on the way to do that,” Pat-
terson said.
“I have three older broth-
ers so I was potty trained at
the little league fi elds. Base-
ball has always been part of
my life and then just getting
to host players and learn more
about how professional base-
ball works and how the minor
leagues work, it was a whole
new world and it’s made me a
really big fan of the sport.”
During her senior year of
college, Patterson auditioned
for the University Resident
Theater Association and got
into her dream school—Uni-
versity of Essex East 15 Act-
ing School in London. But the
opportunity turned out to be
too expensive.
She plans to audition again
in January and attend a school
in the United States. Her top
choice is Florida State Uni-
versity’s Asolo Conservatory
for Actor Training, followed
by similar apprenticeship pro-
grams at University of Ten-
nessee and University of San
Diego.
Patterson was in the Mc-
Nary High theater and band
and graduated in 2011.
She has acted in three lo-
cal shows in the past year, in-
cluding Keizer Homegrown
Theater’s performance of Time
Stands Still in March.
Submitted
Bill Klein, program chair for the fi re services program at Chemeketa Community College, re-
ceives a surplus engine from Keizer Fire District Division Chief Brian Butler.
KFD gives surplus engine
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
When one of Chemeketa
Community College’s fi re en-
gines was at the end of its life
and beginning to cost more
than it’s worth to maintain,
Keizer First District came to
the rescue.
In exchange for facility
time and use of their students,
KFD agreed to surplus an en-
gine to the college’s emergen-
cy services program, located at
the Brooks campus.
KFD Division Chief Brian
Butler said the district would
use the college’s facility for
training and offi cer assess-
ments.
The students will be used
in emergency situations like
structure fi res as well as non-
emergency like help rolling
up hoses or help at the Can-
dy Cane Day and Christmas
Breakfast.
“We’re thinking we’re get-
ting a good deal on it and
it’s nice to pay that forward,”
Butler said. “Most of our guys
come from Chemeketa so
they are going to be able to
use that. We may get more use
out of it now with them using
it to come into our fi res.”
KFD Chief Jeff Cowan
noted the engine has been
good to the district over the
past 25 years.
“We got every nickel we
put into it,” Cowan said. “We
really did. We took good care
of it, kept it maintained. It’s
now going to be a student
standard. They’ll train on it.”
The fi re district is also giv-
ing Chemeketa an old ambu-
lance.
“Without our relationship
with Keizer fi re, our students
would not be able to train and
prepare themselves for careers
in the fi re industry,” Dean of
Emergency Services Marshall
Roache said.
“We really value that rela-
tionship with them and their
offi cers. It’s really strong. What
an opportunity for our stu-
dents to see actual fi refi ghters
out here training. It’s a great
mentorship.”
WorshipDirectory
These Salem-Keizer houses of worship invite you to visit.
Call to list your church in our Worship Directory: (503) 390-1051
John Knox Presbyterian Church
JOIN US FOR
SUNDAY WORSHIP
452 Cummings Lane North 393-0404
8:30 am • 10 am • 11:30 am • 6 pm
PEOPLESCHURCH
4500 LANCASTER DR NE | SALEM
503.304.4000 • www.peopleschurch.com
Celebration
Services
Saturday Evening
1755 Lockhaven Dr. NE Keizer
503-390-3900
www.dayspringfellowship.com
Rev. Dr. John Neal, Pastor
Worship - 10:30 a.m.
Education Hour - 9:15 a.m.
Nursery Care Available
www.keizerjkpres.org
Jason Lee UMC
820 Jeff erson St. NE
Salem OR 97301
9:00 am
Dr. Jon F. Langenwalter, Pastor
The church with the purple doors
10:45 am
Worship at 9:30 am • Child Care Available
6:00 pm
Children’s Programs, Student and Adult Ministries
Father Gary L. Zerr, Pastor
Saturday Vigil Liturgy: 5:30 p.m.
Sundays: 8:15 a.m. & 10:30 a.m.
La Misa en Español: 12:30 p.m.
Sunday Morning
and
503-364-2844
Faith Lutheran Church
4505 River Rd N • 393-4507
Sunday Schedule:
9:00 a.m. Children’s Church
9:15 a.m. Adult Bible Study
9:30 a.m. Children’s Activities
Pastor
Virginia Eggert 10:30 a.m. Worship with Communion