Shannon Beam

AUGUST

08/24/07- Judge for the Miss Shenandoah County Fair Pageant

SEPTEMBER

09/03/07- Labor Day Festival

09/15/07- Miss Shenandoah Valley Pageant

OCTOBER

10/06/07- ABC's 22nd Annual College Conference; Mission: POSSIBLE (eradicating underage drinking) @ The Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center

10/20/07- Queen for a Day at Children's Hospital in Washington, D.C.

10/24/07- Speaker at Winston Churchill's High School's Destructive Decisions Assembly- drinking/drugs/reckless driving.

For an article about the event please visit: http://www.gazette.net/stories/103107/potonew193154_32359.shtml

10/27/07- Children's Halloween Party at the American Legion

10/31/07- 4:30 PM- MADD Loudoun Halloween Parade @ Bull Run ASAP office in Leesburg
**Pictures Coming Soon**

NOVEMBER

11/03/07- Teen Driving S.A.F.E-D. Day- Fairfax County Government Center, 12000 Government Center Parkway

11/10/07- Miss Hampton Roads Pageant

11/11/07- Veteran's Day Service at the American Legion

Posing with the Mayor of College Park, Stephen Brayman and Bill Robertson after the Veteran's Day Service for which I was invited to sing the National Anthem.

11/13/07- Queen for A Day Event at Inova Fairfax Hospital

With one of the girls we visited at the Hospital; We had so much fun playing with her new Barbie and her Hello Kitty Temporary Tattoos!

This little boy enjoyed his new "Spy Goggles" and even sang me a song from High School Musical!

This little girl wants to be Miss America when she grows up :)

11/14/07- Keynote Speaker at the M.A.D.D. National "Tie One On For Safety" Campaign Kick-Off and Press Release in Loudoun County

11/15/07- 7PM My Senior Voice Recital at Goodson Recital Hall (Shenandoah University)

11/16/07-11/18/07 Judge for the 4th Annual Tiny Miss Eastern America Mini National Pageant in Lynchburg, VA at the Holiday Inn Select
***Pictures Coming Soon***

11/24/07- 7 PM Miss DC USA at the JW Marriott Hotel, located at 1331 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.

At the Miss DC USA Pageant with Miss Tidewater MD MAO 2007 Brittany McNeil

DECEMBER

12/01/07- Miss Arlington 2008/Miss Fairfax 2008 Pageant

At the Miss Arlington Pageant with Brittany McNeill (Miss Tidewater and co-founder of Bears and Beauties) and Keia Brown (Miss Arlington International)

Me and the co-founder of Bears and Beauties accepting donations from Emily, Mini Miss Hampton Roads and Madison, Petite Miss Eastern America. Thank you girls!!

With Emily, Mini Miss Hampton Roads!

12/16/07- Children's Christmas Party at the American Legion

With Mrs. Claus!

12/19/07- Local Celebrity Day at John's Hopkins Children Center

With the Orioles Mascot visiting the children at John's Hopkins Children's Center to spread some holiday cheer!

12/31/07- VA MADD Red Ribbon Run

In my room ready to head out to George Mason for the MADD Red Ribbon 5K Run!

Modeling the MADD Red Ribbon Run Official T-Shirt.

At the finish line waiting to congratulate all of the runners!

Shaking hands and handing out prizes to the winners of the race.

Drive responsibly this New Years!

JANUARY

01/05/08- Miss Williamsburg Pageant

With my good friend, Zack (AKA Miss VA's #1 Fan!), at the Miss Williamsburg Pageant.

01/12/08- Miss Apple Blossom Festival Pageant

Congratulations to Maddie!

Cracking up while taking a picture with THE MIME (as Julius likes to call it!)

01/13/08- Youth Recognition Day at the American Legion

Being honored by the American Legion for my year of service as Miss College Park 2007.

Speaking to the audience about the opportunities that the Miss America Organization provides young women and what I accomplished during my year of service.

With Mark Beard, a fabulous musician and member of the Legion.

01/27/08- Queen's Weekend at Massanutten Resort
We were honored to have WHSV TV 3 come visit us during our Queen's Weekend! Please go to http://www.whsv.com/news/headlines/14458977.html to watch the video or type in "TINY MISS AMERICA" in the search bar! Congratulations to Miss Virginia, Hannah Kiefer on her 3rd Runner-Up placement at Miss America!!

01/29/08- 2008 Special Olympics Virginia Alpine Ski Championships

Standing by the "Olympic Torch" where the awards ceremonies were held.

Taking some photos before the awards ceremony started! Mrs. Virginia International, Jessica Robinson, was also there to help!

Congratulating and shaking hands with one of the outstanding athletes!

Awarding the gold medal to one of the athletes!

FEBRUARY

02/12/08- National Pancake Day at IHOP to raise awareness and funds for the Children's Miracle Network--**canceled due to unknown circumstances**

02/16/08- Miss College Park 2008 Pageant to be held at Northwestern High School at 6 PM. Come join me for my give-up as Miss College Park 2007 and the crowning of Miss College Park 2008 and Miss Prince George's County 2008!

Congratulations to Miss College Park 2008, Heather Molnar!!!

Me crowning my successor :)

Congratulations Heather and best of luck at Miss Maryland 2008!

MARCH

03/01/08- Miss Southeastern Virginia 2008 Pageant

The visiting Queens! Ashley Smith, Me, Ashley Thomas, and Javicia Walker

03/03/08- Special Guest at Evergreen Mill Elementary School's 5th Grade DARE graduation.

03/09/08- Tiny Miss of America Pageant

Andolyn and me! Congratulations on your title of Pre-Teen Miss of America!

03/12/08- Panelist at Arlington Public School's underage drinking awareness seminar: What you need to know about Beach Week/Senior Week. Here is a copy of the press release:

Underage drinking and beach week

Arlington, VA, January 24, 2008: Arlington Public School’s high school PTAs, continuing the coalition’s effort to bring awareness to underage drinking issues, sponsor a session on beach week and teen drinking on March 12, 2008, 7 pm at H-B Woodlawn School, 4100 N. Vacation Lane, Arlington, VA 22207. Beach week is a popular high school graduation celebration that brings groups of teens to beach towns the week after June graduation.

This beach week session, open to all, includes a panel of parents, a student, and experts, a Q&A period, and handouts covering: tips on sending kids to beach week; tips on communicating with kids about not attending beach week; beach week teen drinking research; Arlington County statistics on teen drinking; and legal consequences for violations.

These legal consequences can throw life plans off track. Police Chief Keith Banks of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, tells of parents calling him to say scholarships have been revoked due to beach week arrests. At 2007 beach week, a DC area coach was arrested in Dewey Beach, Delaware and charged with 18 counts of endangering the welfare of a child and one count each of maintaining a dwelling for the use of illegal drugs, providing alcohol to an underage person, and disorderly use of a dwelling. Thirty five recent graduates were arrested at the same gathering.

But legal issues aren't the only concerns. “Student beach week attitudes frequently throw caution to the wind. Heavy alcohol consumption can lead to graduates taking more risks physically, socially, and sexually. Alcohol use was implicated in the deaths of the University of South Carolina students, when their beach house caught fire,” notes substance abuse educator and Arlington parent Kate McCauley.

Shannon Beam, college student and Miss Virginia contestant who is keenly aware of the hazards of underage drinking, notes, “The majority of my peers too often focus on the warnings against drinking and driving. But risks include unwittingly putting yourself in compromising situations and even the position to be taken advantage of and raped, as in the case of my best friend who had just graduated from high school in 2004.”

McCauley says parents need to go into beach week conversations with their eyes open: “Teens naturally don't anticipate what can go wrong, and will push back when parents try to set limits. Learn what the risks are, what your options are, and how to talk to your teen about safer choices.”

The March 12^th session panelists include:

Arlington's Chief Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Theo Stamos

Inova Health Care System physician, researcher on teens and beach week, parent of college student: Regina M. Milteer, M.D., FAAP

Rehoboth Beach Police Chief Keith Banks

Parent and counselor who sent her daughter to beach week and has created a tip sheet for parents: Maureen Simmons

Arlington parent of three, ages 19-24, who did not send his teens to beach week: John Mahoney

Substance Abuse Educator who will cover communicating with teens re beach week: Kate McCauley, MEd, MSW

Student spokesperson concerning the dangers of underage drinking, Shannon Beam is a contestant for Miss Virginia 2008 and a senior at Shenandoah University. Beam is fervent to get her message out after the rape of a friend and the car-crash death of another that involved underage drinking.

Rehoboth, DE Police Chief, Keith Banks and myself. I told him that I was jealous of his tan!

A group shot of the majority of the seminar's expert panelists!

Margie, the woman who made it all happen, Chief Banks, and myself. I was so honored to have been selected as the Student Spokesperson for this seminar!

03/16/08- American Legion Children's Easter Party

The Children's Easter Party was a HUGE success! I had a turnout of exactly 44 children!

03/21/08- Queen for a Day Event at Fairfax Inova Hospital

Ryann Richardson- Miss Prince George's County (MD MAO), Kristena Wright- Miss Fairfax (VA MAO), and myself with one of our newly crowned guests! This was my first appearance as the new Area Director for the Capital Queen for a Day Chapter as well as Kristena's as the Chairperson of Fairfax Inova Hospital!

Me, Kristena, and Ryann. Congratulations to Kristena for a successful party!

Another one of our beautiful, pampered Queens!

APRIL

04/04/08- Miss Commonwealth Pageant

Congratulations to Laura Pennington - The new Miss Commonwealth! It was wonderful to be with all 25 of Virginia's Titleholders here! I also gained a memory that I will be able to use as my most embarrassing moment from here on out! ;-)

04/05/08- Miss Virginia Contestant Workshop.

My wonderful E.D. and I at the workshop!

These are a couple of my newest headshots, courtesy of Lenn Long! (These can also be found in the "New Headshots" section of my website)

04/05/08- CMN Fundraiser at Fort Hill Bowling Alley!

Ashley Thomas, Miss Norfolk State University, and myself.

Sonya (Miss Shenandoah Valley) Me, and Madison (Miss Apple Blossom)!

Me and my bowling ball!

04/12/08- Special Guest and MC for the 53rd Annual Miss Madison County Pageant.

With my new "best friends" from the Madison County Fair Pageant!

With Mr. Madison 2008!

The new Miss Madison County and I!

04/20/08- Loudoun County MADD's 2008 Poster Essay Contest Ceremony.

The theme this year was, "Drinkers don't think, Thinkers don't drink!"

The cake!

With one of the 2nd Place Winners! What an artist!

With the President of Loudoun MADD, Susan Cleveland, and one of the 1st Place Winners!

04/22/08- Shenandoah University's 14th Annual Leadership Conference - I was nominated for the 2008 Outstanding Community Service Award

**UPDATE** Shannon was named the winner of the '2008 Shenandoah University Outstanding Community Service Award' out of approximately 3,300 students at the 2008 Leader Celebration!

04/29/08- Visiting Sherando High School

All of my students from the various choirs! They are going to have a Miss Virginia watching party to cheer me on!

They actually threw me a surprise party and this was the adorable (and delicious!) cake that they made me!

MAY

05/02/08- Bears and Beauties Appearance with co-founder, Brittany McNeill. We are sending over 350 stuffed animals and autograph cards to the USO and a burn victim unit in Texas.

05/04/08- Rescheduled Queen for a Day Kick-Off at Georgetown University Hospital!

05/08/08- Dedication of the USO Lounge at Reagan National Airport

05/09/08- Baccalaureate Service and Awards Ceremony at Shenandoah University!

My AMAZING Director came to support me during my graduation weekend!!

I was honored to have received the Sigma Alpha Iota Top Scholar Award for having the highest GPA in the fraternity! I was also excited to receive my Honor Cords to graduate Cum Laude at tomorrow's commencement ceremony!

05/10/08- My graduation from Shenandoah University!

I am now an official Cum Laude Graduate of Shenandoah University with a Major in Music Education, a Certificate in Vocal Performance, and a Minor in Piano. It was a busy four years, but it was worth it! Thank you to everyone who attended and everyone who has been sending me messages of congratulations and well wishes for my future!

05/17/08- Queen for a Day Appearance in conjunction with Special Love, Inc. (another organization that works with pediatric cancer patients- visit www.specialove.org for more details) as a part of their Family Fun Weekend.

Thank you to Xandra Brown - Miss Greater Richmond's Outstanding Teen, Sarah Smoot - Miss Teen Virginia International, and Caitlin Uze - Miss Greater Springfield for helping make this Queen for a Day event such a huge success! Also thank you to Deputy Darren Hunt- the boys greatly enjoyed your company!

Destiny and I! She has her "Queen Smile" mastered already!

Some more of our beautiful Queens.

Athena and her little sister. These little girls are all so inspiring.

05/20/08- Participating in a Patient Play Day at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

Playing with bubbles! This little girl was FIERCE when it came to popping them!!

This was King Justin!

I was honored to have had my picture taken with Miss America :)

05/21/08-05/22/08- Selected as a member of the chorus in Wolf Trap's Opening Summer Gala Performance of the "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring"! This is the official United States premiere, featuring the sweeping cinematography and stirring dialogue of Peter Jackson’s epic movie combined with a live performance of Howard Shore’s award-winning orchestral score. Please visit http://wolftrap.com/Home/Find_Performances_and_Events/Performance/08Filene/0521show08.aspx for more details and ticket information!

05/31/08- Miss DC MAO Pageant

Waiting at the Metro Station for my train to come to go to the Miss DC MAO Pageant! What a long day this was- I had already driven 8 hours from a wardrobe fitting and then went straight to my parents house to get ready as quickly as possible! It was worth it though!

JUNE

06/01/08- My Send-Off Party for Miss Virginia!

With Gail and Donnie- My "other" set of parents! Special thanks to JT for coming and taking pictures of everything so that I can remember this wonderful event!

Pretending to cut my cake (because Lord knows I am NOT good at cake cutting!)

06/07/08- Relay for life in Lynchburg, VA with the "BEAMing For A Cure" team!

The luminaria ceremony was one of the most touching I have ever been a part of. I was walking at Relay for both of my grandfathers- one of whom passed away from pancreatic cancer and the other from malignant melanoma.

I was honored to be the Team Captain of "BEAMing for a Cure" at Relay for Life in Lynchburg. My team and I had such a wonderful time walking our laps, doing dance contests, and even "butt" charades- which were all activities planned by the Relay For Life Committee. I also had the pleasure of singing the National Anthem at this event and was then asked to sing my Miss Virginia Song in dedication of all of the survivors of cancer in attendance.

06/08/08- Miss Virginia Recital in Virginia Beach

Being silly with fellow Miss VA contestants!

All of the Miss VA ladies in attendance with Mr. and Mrs. Buckley. We were raising money for the Miss Virginia Scholarship fund as well as the Miss Virginia Community Service Award. It was a wonderful event with a great turnout. I was able to sing the full version of the song, "Astonishing" from the musical Little Women.

06/09/08- Tour of Carilion Memorial Hospital in Roanoke, VA

06/14/08- Flag Day Ceremony

I was invited to sing the National Anthem at a flag dedication ceremony in honor of Flag Day.

This is the flag which we dedicated- it stands tall to remind us all that we are the land of the free because of the brave.

06/19/08- Miss Maryland Preliminaries- Day One

Pictured above with co-founder of the Bears and Beauties Project, Miss Anne Arundel County- Brittany McNeill- Preliminary Swimsuit Winner! Congratulations!!!!

06/21/08- Special Guest at the Tiny Miss Northern VA Pageant and pre-arrival at the Hotel Roanoke for Miss Virginia 2008!

Taking pictures with the different contestants- all future Miss VA's!

I have arrived! Please visit www.pbase.com/nikonbuff for photos by Julius Tolentino throughout the week to see what all of the contestants are up to! Also, if you would like to send any cards or gifts please send them to:

Miss Central Virginia- Shannon Beam, Hotel Roanoke, 110 Shenandoah Avenue, Roanoke, VA 24016