When one is passionate about a cause, one tries to use any positive platform possible to gain support for that cause. This is what Miss Pennsylvania, Katie Schreckengast, is doing with her new fame as Miss Pennsylvania. While she didn’t win the crown for Miss America 2017, she is promoting a cause that is still near and dear to her: adoption.
Katie was adopted as an infant from South Korea, as she revealed in an article from Penn State News. She became interested in the pageant talent arena as a young teenager and won Miss Pennsylvania Outstanding Teen while in high school. Katie then took a break from the pageant arena while she pursued a journalism degree at Penn State.
In an interview with Pennlive, Katie discussed that it was while she was at Penn State that she noticed people would make insensitive remarks regarding adoption, such as, “Where are you really from? Is your brother your real brother? How do you feel getting ripped about from your real mom?”
Because of those questions, Katie began blogging about adoption. Katie hoped that her blog would encourage discussions of adoption in a positive aspect since so often only adoption “failures” are shared.
While at Penn State, Katie felt the need to become involved with the Miss America Organization and to use that platform to educate others about adoption. Katie states, “That’s when I realized I could partner the Miss America Organization and my personal platform and this life that I’m living, this passion that I have for talking about adoption. The crown could really serve as a microphone for me to share my platform.”
Katie hopes that use of this platform will answer the insensitive questions she often faced about adoption and replace those ideas with the many positive aspects and love surrounding adoption. She definitely is a cheerleader for adoption.
