Knutzen ready to represent Miss Volunteer America as its first queen

Last week was the dawning of a new era in the pageant world with the inaugural Miss Volunteer America Pageant.

And the first woman to be crowned queen said she understands the weight of the moment for her.

“Whoever was going to be chosen as the first Miss Volunteer America had to be ready to take on the role of helping define the branding of the organization,” said Alexa Knutzen, who won the pageant Saturday night competing at Miss Utah Volunteer. “And I really feel like I’m ready to take on that role and do what I can to really help this organization determine its direction with the leadership and the board.”

Knutzen is sure of that need enough that she made the mission of the organization her S.E.R.V.E. platform –Miss Volunteer America: Providing Women the Capacities, Collaboration and Culture for Success.

Her platform for years had been another subject she’s passionate about – helping the special needs community members through art therapy.

“I wanted to come into this week with a clear message that this week isn’t about me, but this organization,” Knutzen said. “It was a gutsy move to change my platform to that, but I figured either the judges would love it or hate it, so I decided to hope they’d love it.”

Being in this position is new for Knutzen. She competed five times for the state title in the Miss USA and Miss America organizations, coming up as first or second runner-up three times.

Then as Saturday night progressed and they gradually narrowed the list of contestants down from the full 47 contestants to 16 then 12, 10 and finally five, she said she was peaceful within herself the entire time.

Even when her name wasn’t called until No. 11 for the top 12 and last for the top 10.

“I was trusting God’s timing that if I didn’t win, then it wasn’t my time,” Knutzen said. “But I knew I’d done about all I could do this week – consistently doing my best in each part of the pageant.

“So if my best wasn’t good enough to move on to the next stage of the competition (on Saturday), then I’d have to be OK with that.”

Life is about to get a lot busier for Knutzen.

Even before winning the pageant, she’d already accepted a position at Vanderbilt Hospital to work with speech pathologists.

“I was already moving to Nashville in four days and was preparing for that move,” Knutzen said. “But his is good because I’m in the same city with most of the organizational leadership and the national board, so meeting with them will be a lot easier.”

When she’s not working with children in speech pathology with Vanderbilt, her schedule will be full of speaking engagements and appearances across the country.

“I’ll speak to whomever I need to and who will listen about working with children, inclusion for special needs students, the Miss Volunteer America Organization – whatever I can to put myself and this organization’s message out there,” Knutzen said. “And one of the things that really attracted me to this organization was their attention to us as contestants not just during the contest but empowering us and creating opportunities for us to succeed in whatever field we choose to enter professionally.

“I’d actually ‘retired’ from pageant competition when I learned about the Volunteer organization and almost didn’t sign up to compete. But I’m glad I did because of the opportunity I have now and the fabulous week I spent here in Jackson. The people here are welcoming and reminds me of my hometown. I’m glad I came here.”

Reach Brandon Shields at bjshields@jacksonsun.com. Follow him on Twitter @JSEditorBrandon or on Instagram at editorbrandon.

This article originally appeared on Jackson Sun: Knutzen ready to represent Miss Volunteer America as its first queen