Fort Mill grad wins Strawberry Festival Pageant

Fort Mill High School graduate Katlynn Savage will represent the town as Miss S.C. Strawberry Festival 2016.

The teen division winner is Harper Haley and Katie Henson took top honors in the Mrs. Division, as well as People’s Choice. Twenty-six local women competed for the coveted crowns in the S.C. Strawberry Festival.

The pageant is the first official event of the Strawberry Festival, with most events taking place this weekend. More than just a beauty pageant, the contestants’ platform makes up a large portion of their final score. Winners are expected to advocate for their chosen charity or cause, as well as serve as ambassadors for the town throughout the year.

For the first time, winners were awarded $500 each to be donated to their cause.

“I’m in shock right now,” said Savage, 18. “I was so surprised.”

Savage advocates for suicide prevention among members of the military, a cause close to her heart since losing her boyfriend, Lance Corporal Benjamin Campbell. Savage said she thinks Campbell would be proud of her.

“I felt like it was more than a pageant. It’s raising awareness and carrying on his legacy,” she said.

As part of her platform, Savage plans to motivate members of the community to partner with the organization “22 Too Many,” which encourages athletes to honor members of the military lost to suicide by entering races in their honor, and sending any medals to the service members’ family.

Educating the public about post traumatic stress disorder, a mental condition common among military combat veterans, is also on Savage’s short list.

“There’s so much to do,” she said.

Haley, 15, plans to raise funding for St. Jude’s Hospital, and said she is excited about all that the organization does to help sick children.

“In the past three decades, they’ve brought the childhood cancer survival rates from 20 percent to 80 percent,” Haley said. “I use them not only as a platform but as a role model. They’re so ambitious. I want to be like that.”

Henson, a wife, mother of four and owner of Katie Baby Children’s Boutique on Main Street, will advocate for Give Hope Global, a Christian relief organization for Haitian children.

Henson was instrumental in helping Michelle Cherikos, Mrs. Strawberry Festival 2015, with Give Hope events during her reign, and will continue efforts such as the school supply and shoe drives for Haitian orphans. The popular “Give Hope Tree” Christmas ornament event will be back as well.

As the People’s Choice and division winner, she took home over $1,100 for Give Hope.

“(It’s) all going to feed those children, clothe those children, give them medical and clean water,” Henson said.

This story was originally published May 2, 2016 at 1:48 PM with the headline "Fort Mill grad wins Strawberry Festival Pageant."