Juliana Sirmans, a senior in high school and Carson County’s Miss United States Agriculture is looking for sponsors in hopes of garnering a the title of Cover Miss.
“I’m currently Carson County’s Miss United States Agriculture. I am running for a state title, hopefully, in November,” Sirmans said.
“There’s several different types of categories. You have your Cover Miss, which is where I’m getting all my sponsorships. There’s also your overall Texas Miss United States Agriculture, that’s the big one that represents everything. You also have Ambassadors,” she explained.
In order to win the title of Cover Miss, Sirmans must find sponsors and use their business logos to create ad pages. Whoever ends up with the most ads at the end of the competition wins the title and goes to Nationals.
“Its kind-of just a competetion, I don’t really have a set number (of sponsors to reach). All my sponsorships are due October 1, so I am collecting them and making the ad pages now. I’m open to having more. The more I get, the more it helps my chance of being Cover Miss,” she said.
“I collect the money from the businesses, I create the ad pages all myself and I will mail them off to my manager, Kaylee. She is the manager that watches over the Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma Queens. Then that determines how the money will be divvied out.”
“There is a program that we will have at the state pageant that has all of our sponsorships and all of our ad pages in there. Each county queen contestant will have all of our sponsors in one book.”
“If I get the title or any of the state titles, I will then have to make more ad pages,” she laughed.
“I will get to move on to Nationals in July, that should be in Alabama. It will go with higher stakes, authority and scholarships. The Miss United States Agriculture Program is strictly scholarship-based. Any money raised by the program will go back to me or the other queens that are competing.”
The Miss United States Agriculture pageant is open to all ages.
“It’s not just teenagers or young adults. You have your future Little Misses which are up to four years old, all the way up to your Elite Misses which are 65 and older. It’s a broad spectrum and anyone can do it. You just have to take the time and put in the effort. I am in the ages 17-21 group.”
Sirman’s dedication to the program stems from her time spent in the FFA program.
“My freshman year of high school I joined FFA and that’s what really opened my eyes to everything good in agriculture. I knew about agriculture, farming and ranching because my dad was a fourth-generation rancher and I grew up going to stock shows and around horse and cattle. I knew what it was, but I didnt understand the importance of it until I slowly started going through competitions, different kinds of speaking events, leadership events and career development events through FFA. It really showed me how important it is that people are out there advocating for people in agriculture,” she shared.
“My entire program is based on women in agriculture. Since 1969, women have been allowed in the FFA program and so that’s opened the door for many scholarship and job opportunities.”
“Another thing that my program is based on is mental health in agriculture. As someone that struggles with mental health issues, I think it’s vitally important that we speak for the people who struggle. Two percent of farmers in America struggle with mental health issues and so I think it’s important that they have somebody advocating for them and letting them know they are not alone,” Sirmans said.
If anyone is interested in sponsoring Juliana’s bid for the Cover Miss title, you can call her at 806-663-0362 or e-mail her at julianasirmans@yahoo.com.
The Pampa News wishes Juliana luck in her hopes of getting the Cover Miss title and as she shows her goats at the Tri-State-Fair this weekend.
