Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, August 7, 1993 TAG: 9308070079
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KEVIN KITTREDGE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLAND CORRECTIONAL CENTER LENGTH: Medium
Picture the sheltered, 21-year-old small-town girl walking into the state prison compound.
The guard towers. The coils of concertina wire. The inmates yelling at her.
The iron gates clanging shut.
"My first impression when I walked up the steps," recalled Angie Harrell - Miss New River Valley Fair - of her first visit to Bland Correctional Center last spring, "was complete terror. My naivete was jerked right out from under my feet."
It was her own choice.
She has even gone back. Over and over again.
Harrell, a senior at Radford University majoring in psychology, is working in the counseling program at Bland this summer for college credit.
Consider a few other facts about this slightly unconventional beauty queen:
The Pulaski native is paying her own way through Radford University. She works at a Dublin bank.
She carries a 3.8 gpa - and estimates "90 percent of my waking hours" are spent studying.
She insists she is not interested in being known for her good looks.
"Appearance is something that I am concerned with as presenting myself as someone who is nice and clean cut and business-like," she said. "I want to present a confident image, not one of beauty. . . . I would like attention for my accomplishments more than I would a crown."
On the other hand . . .
"I'm certainly not down on the beauty pageant thing," Harrell said. "Its just something that I haven't formed a taste for yet. I still might."
Truth is, she never intended to compete for the title of Miss New River Valley Fair.
The fair runs through Saturday at the New River Valley Fairgrounds in Dublin.
Harrell's sister - Miss Montgomery County, Stacy Harrell - entered her name.
"She paid my entry fee and everything," Harrell said. "I've always thought Stacy was the one who would be involved in pageants. I put my time into school and other things, and didn't think much about it."
Surprise.
Harrell was crowned Miss New River Valley Fair in May.
The New River Valley Fair competition last spring was actually her second beauty pageant. Harrell entered the fair pageant in 1991 as well - also at her sister's urging - but did not win.
"In `91, I was a nervous wreck," she said. "This year I just had fun."
She believes her lack of pageant experience worked to her advantage this time.
"I think that just being natural and being myself helped me more than anything else would have."
"It's been a lot of fun," Harrell said of serving as Miss New River Valley Fair. "It's been an experience. And that's what life is built on, is experience."
And then, she has always loved fairs - the New River Valley Fair in particular. She is scheduled to appear there every day this week.
"It's just the atmosphere," she said of its appeal. "When I was younger it was just the people, and to be around my friends."
She is even developing a taste for country music.
Sort of. "I'm getting used to it," she says. "I'm really impressed with Vince Gill."
She already has a taste for travel. Harrell dreams of going to Paris - and of visiting all of the 50 states. So far she's seen only four.
Are there more beauty pageants in her future?
At least one, Harrell said. The state fair beauty pageant is in January, and Harrell will be a contestant.
Her long-term plans, however, have little to do with posing on a runway.
After earning her degree from Radford, Harrell plans to earn a Ph.D. in psychology or attend medical school.
Meanwhile, she's learning a little more this summer than the best way to put on her make up.
Twice a week Harrell heads for the state prison down in Bland County, where she stays for four hours at a time. She sometime sits in on group therapy sessions - and otherwise assists counselor Shawn Meek in any way she can.
Her feelings have changed considerably since her first visit.
"This is something I've been sheltered from," she said in a recent interview inside the prison walls. But she also said of the inmates: "They're people. They're just like I am. That's what I wasn't seeing" at the start.
These days, in fact, "I'm so excited I can't wait to get out the door to come here," Harrell said. "It's so different."
by CNB