The graduation stage isn’t the only one senior Jessica Scheu will walk across this spring. She also is perfecting her walk for her trip across the stage at the Miss USA pageant.

Scheu doesn’t know where or when the Miss USA pageant will be yet, but she won the Miss Minnesota pageant in November after being first runner-up last year. She said she “couldn’t explain” the feeling of winning after coming up short.

“I was like, ‘I don’t know what to do.’ I was like, ‘Where do I look? Do I wave? How do I hold my flowers?’ I had no idea what I was doing,” Scheu said.

Scheu said she is still getting used to the spotlight, but many students don’t know that she is Miss Minnesota.

“It’s kind of weird when you sit in the lunchroom and people are like, ‘Oh my God, you’re Miss Minnesota?’ and I’m like, ‘Yes, don’t tell anyone I’m eating pizza,’” Scheu said.

Denise Wallace-Heitkamp, executive producer of Future Productions, the company that puts on several state pageants including the Miss Minnesota one, said Scheu’s chances at the Miss USA pageant are great.

“Jessica is a really strong competitor in the fact that she prepares well. She works hard, she’ll get the homework done,” Wallace-Heitkamp said. “Regardless of how she does, I think that the state of Minnesota should be really proud of the representation that we’re going to have at an event that is watched by millions of people.”

But Scheu is focused on using the pageant as a stepping stone to her future.

“I always told myself, ‘I’m going to do only the things that down the road are worth it,’” Scheu said. “Like a dress I’m only going to wear for that moment, maybe a few others but interview skills – I’m never going to be like, ‘I totally regret having a mock interview.’”

Wallace-Heitkamp agreed that the connections made and experience gained as a Miss USA competitor are priceless.

“The doors that get opened for these women, it’s just unbelievable to me. It’s life-changing,” Wallace-Heitkamp said.

Scheu said she wants to be the “best Miss Minnesota” she can be and represent St. Thomas and the state on a national level.

“We can’t rely on the Vikings, we can’t rely on the Timberwolves, the Wild maybe, but we could have a Miss USA,” Scheu said. “The state needs me.”

Baihly Warfield can be reached at warf3860@stthomas.edu.