Miranda's Moment

In less than 48 hours, Miranda Youngren’s wild ride will find its end.
The 18-year-old will hit the national stage Friday night in the Bahamas and vie for the title of Miss Teen USA.
That’s a long way from Reed Point, where she was one of just four in the graduating class of 2015. But there’s nothing small about Youngren. Her heart, and life goals, are as big as they come.
Depending on the results of Friday’s pageant, Youngren plans to become the first person in her family to earn a college degree, and will enroll at Montana State University to study construction engineering technology.
After that, she plans to work her way up at a construction firm and eventually build skyscrapers. She also has plans to pursue modeling and acting “and if it’s God’s will, that will be after a year as Miss Teen USA.”
And there’s the mission trip to Africa that is also high on her list of priorities, following in the footsteps of her father.
Of the year-long experiences she has had traveling the state and country as Miss Montana Teen USA, it was the humanity side of things that struck Youngren the most. She told the News of “Flakesgiving” in Billings which is the largest Thanksgiving meal distribution in the state.
“I had the chance to work alongside individuals, organizations such as boy/girl scouts and employees from local businesses that wanted to serve so others wouldn’t go without. Looking at it from the other side, it was humbling and complete joy to visit with the people who were waiting in line to receive their Thanksgiving meal,” said Youngren.
The ability to speak in public has been perhaps the most substantial of Youngren’s achievements.
“The toughest part about this whole experience has been a tie between public speaking and keeping a level head,” she said. “Public speaking is a given for many, but keeping a level head sneaks up on you if you’re not being cautious. It is so easy to get wrapped up in being pampered and being treated like a princess, but at the end of the day you have God and the people around you and those relationships are more important than anything.”
A live stream of the pageant preliminaries will be on www.missteenusa.com at 6 p.m. Friday, Aug. 21, with the finals taking place Aug. 22.