{"id":7315,"date":"2019-03-18T11:13:34","date_gmt":"2019-03-18T16:13:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/?p=7315"},"modified":"2019-03-18T11:13:34","modified_gmt":"2019-03-18T16:13:34","slug":"light-sees-dreams-coming-true-as-she-wins-miss-sau-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/2019\/light-sees-dreams-coming-true-as-she-wins-miss-sau-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Light sees dreams coming true as she wins Miss SAU 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Cait Light of Spring Hill, Arkansas, was crowned Miss Southern Arkansas University on March 2, 2019, and will compete in the 2019 Miss Arkansas Pageant June 8-16 in Little Rock, Arkansas. While competing at the state level fulfills a lifelong dream of hers, Light said she will be proudest to represent SAU.<\/p>\n

Light, a sophomore Elementary Education major, said she always had SAU in mind as her college home. Her mother was also an Education major here.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love this campus,\u201d Light said. \u201cI\u2019m a huge homebody, but as soon as I got here I felt welcomed by every single person, and I loved that. I joined Greek Life, became a President\u2019s Ambassador, and it has opened so many doors for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her platform \u2013 \u201cLet Your Imagination Soar, Read More\u201d \u2013 is one that is very close to her heart. As Miss SAU, Light plans to emphasize the importance of reading.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my research, I learned that Arkansas ranks 41st in reading scores in the nation,\u201d Light said. \u201cWe have the sixth highest poverty rate. There is one book in this state for every 300 children. Those statistics grabbed my attention and made me realize how much we need to be doing to help kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to reading, Light loves to sing. She performed \u201cUnchained Melody\u201d in the Miss SAU Pageant. The song received two unsolicited recommendations from her mother and her vocal coach. \u201cIt was so weird. I bought the movie Ghost because I\u2019d never seen it, and my mom said she had just told my dad I should sing the most popular song from that movie because she\u2019d heard it on \u2018The Voice.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Light sang LeAnn Rimes\u2019 version of the song. \u201cShe does a really high note, and I said, \u2018I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s doable.\u2019 But I tried it, and my vocal coach said, \u2018That\u2019s amazing.\u2019 I kept working on it, and it became my favorite part of the song.\u201d<\/p>\n

She prepared for months in advance of the pageant. \u201cI took vocal lessons every weekend, tried to eat healthier and exercise more. It was a lot of work, and it did not come easy,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Her passion for SAU Blue and Gold made it all worthwhile. \u201cI love being here. I\u2019ve had a wonderful experience. The faculty is so uplifting and kind. You\u2019re not just another number to them, they really care, and that was the opposite of what I expected from my college experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Light has earned the Top 10 Percent Scholarship, the Arkansas Challenge Scholarship, and the President\u2019s Ambassador Scholarship. She will also receive a $5,000 scholarship as Miss SAU.\u00a0 Light also received the Lifestyle and Fitness Scholarship ($100) and the Service Above Self Scholarship ($200), for a total of $5,300 in pageant awards.<\/p>\n

Winning the title of Miss SAU was an emotional experience. \u201cI started shaking, I teared up. I realized that all the hard work was paying off, and I felt an overwhelming thankfulness and joy. I am still on Cloud Nine.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said friends, faculty and staff have been \u201cso supportive. I\u2019ve felt so loved by this entire community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Light looks forward to talking about the advantages of selecting SAU as a college home. \u201cIt\u2019s a great option,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s a place where anybody can fit in. There is an organization for every single person, and I think anyone who comes here would agree.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cait Light of Spring Hill, Arkansas, was crowned Miss Southern Arkansas University on March 2, 2019, and will compete in the 2019 Miss Arkansas Pageant June 8-16 in Little Rock, Arkansas. While competing at the state level fulfills a lifelong dream of hers, Light said she will be proudest to represent SAU. Light, a sophomore… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":564,"featured_media":7316,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[32641,7753,284,143],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-7315","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-featured-layout","8":"category-homepage","9":"category-office-of-student-activities","10":"category-student-life","11":"entry"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/564"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}