A senior at Shawnee High School has been busy this summer with becoming Miss Ohio Teen USA.
“It’s been just so wonderful and exciting that I’m able to see all my dreams coming true.”
Grace-Anne Larschied has only been competing in pageants for about two and a half years, but she’s proved herself to be a natural after taking home the crown at the Miss Ohio Teen USA 2021 pageant at the beginning of July.
She said it’s a lot of hard work preparing for pageants between practicing her walk in her 7-inch heels, to making sure she’s ready for the on-stage interviews with the judges. It also takes a well-rounded, community-involved teen to win. But she’s worked hard at becoming just that.
“There’s a lot of volunteering that goes in," says Larschied. "I work with American Lung Association, I go out and talk to schools about why vaping is harmful for kids and I have fundraisers of my own: Lanes for Lungs and Laps for Lungs. It’s not all just a pretty face. We’re here to change the world and we’re here to be future leaders of the world.”
With her American Lung Association fundraisers, the money goes toward firefighters in Ohio who battle serious lung problems from their job. She has been teaming up with Chief Todd Truesdale of the Shawnee Township fire department to talk to local schools about the harmful effects of vaping on the lungs and wants to continue this effort even after the pageants are over.
She says, “One of my goals with being Miss Ohio Teen USA 2021 is being able to go to all of the surrounding schools, and hopefully all the schools in Ohio and talk to the teens about anti-vaping measures and teaching them that vaping is bad for you.”
Larschied became passionate about teaching the harms of vaping after she landed in the hospital for a serious form of bacterial pneumonia. Although she has never vaped before, she realized that other kids have gone through similar lung issues that are caused by vaping.
“It’s a really harmful thing to do and I just want kids to know that me being in the hospital, I didn’t have a choice but they have a choice to make the right choice and not vape.”
The next step in her journey includes meeting with state legislators to draft a bill on making it mandatory for every student in Ohio to learn about the harmful effects of vaping. She will be representing Ohio in the Miss Teen USA pageant in November.
