Thank You Hannah Robison, Miss Tennessee

On June 18th, the reign of "Miss Tennessee Hannah Robison" will come to an end and another lucky girl will be crowned.  

Hannah has been an outstanding Miss Tennessee and a wonderful representative for Henry County and the Paris Landing area.  I have followed her Miss Tennessee Hannah Robison Facebook Page religiously and I think I have "liked" every post for the past year.  

The following is a reprint from the official Miss Tennessee Scholarship Pageant website  about Hannah and what she's been up to this past year.  

"Hannah Robison, Miss Tennessee 2015

Hannah Robison was awarded the opportunity of a lifetime when she was crowned Miss Tennessee on June 20, 2015, at the Carl Perkins Civic Center in Jackson, Tennessee. As the newly crowned Miss Tennessee, Kirkland’s Inc. sponsors Hannah as she serves as Governor Haslam’s Official Spokesperson for Character Education and travels over 80,000 miles speaking to 50,000 schoolchildren about the Character Education Trait: Responsibility. Throughout her year of travels, Hannah also serves as Tennessee’s Goodwill Ambassador for the five Children’s Miracle Network (CMN) hospitals across the state. She also holds positions as an Arthritis Foundation Ambassador, Official Friends of Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt Board Intern and as Volunteer Tennessee’s Honorary Board Chair.

Hannah is a senior at The University of Tennessee at Martin pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry with a minor in Psychology. At UTM, Hannah has been on the Dean’s List, a recipient of

the HOPE Scholarship for four years, has worked on Organic Chemistry Research projects under a UTM Professor, and is a member of the American Chemical Society and The National Society of Leadership and Success. She has enjoyed working for UTM as a General Chemistry Recitation leader and presented her Organic Chemistry Research project at the 2014 American Chemical Society Southeastern Regional meeting.  For her outstanding leadership and success at UTM, Hannah was honored with the UTM Chancellor’s Ambassador Award for academics and service.

Hannah has been awarded over $46,000 in college scholarships from her participation in the Miss America program. She received the coveted Miss Tennessee Quality of Life Award 2015, was presented Tennessee’s first ever Duke of Edinburgh Gold Medal, and was a Preliminary Talent Winner and a Preliminary Lifestyle and Fitness in Swimsuit Winner this year as she captured the Miss Tennessee crown.  Thanks to these scholarships from the Miss Tennessee and Miss America Organizations, Hannah will be able to earn her B.S. in Chemistry with a minor in Psychology debt-free!

For the past several years, Hannah has been dedicated to promoting and fundraising for the Arthritis Foundation. Hannah has raised over $20,000 for arthritis and continues her fundraising efforts today.  This organization is incredibly meaningful to Hannah personally because she has had five close family members diagnosed with this debilitating disease. Hannah has worked as a volunteer intern for the Tennessee Chapter of the Arthritis Foundation, allowing her to be on the production side of several fundraising events. Hannah was also a session leader at Camp AcheAway in Nashville, a Juvenile Arthritis Camp that allows children who are suffering with the same disease to come together and become “Champions of Yes”!

Hannah is partnering with the Arthritis Foundation’s Washington D.C. office to lobby Tennessee’s U.S. Congressional leaders as an official Ambassador for the Arthritis Foundation. She is urging our leaders to join the Arthritis Caucus and to cosponsor bills that support lowering the cost of prescription drugs and increasing access to pediatric rheumatologists.

On UTM’s campus, Hannah recently served as Philanthropy Chair for Alpha Omicron Pi Sorority whose national philanthropy is the Arthritis Foundation. Her responsibilities included coordinating service projects for 100 members. She organized and chaired AOII’s 1st annual “Attack Arthritis Week” that raised $5,500 for the Arthritis Foundation. In addition to her on-campus fundraisers, Hannah has conducted various fundraisers on her own that have allowed her to raise over $20,000 for the Arthritis Foundation. Some of these fundraising events include: “Axe Arthritis” Cut-A-Thon, Henry County Fish Fry with Mayor Greer, Arthritis Auto Challenge for a Cure, Benefit Concert, Strike Out Arthritis Softball Tournament and serving as Team Captain of National Arthritis Foundation fundraisers like the Jingle Bell 5k and the Walk to Cure Arthritis.

As a Chemistry major and an advocate for STEM, Hannah helped launch STEM programs in several Tennessee counties this year. She loves Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, which is why she has chosen to be a promoter of STEM Education throughout her year of service. Hannah has been employed as UTM’s Representative for the West Tennessee STEM Hub, served on the committee to bring STEM to the UTM campus and filmed a promotional video for bringing a new Science and Engineering building to UTM’s campus.

Over the past year, Hannah has traveled to each of the CMN hospitals across the state of Tennessee, science experiment in hand, promoting her “STEM Day at CMN”. During the children’s hospital visits, patients join Hannah in the playroom to conduct their own science experiments. If patients are too ill to leave their room, Hannah takes the science experiment to their bedside so they can participate. She allows the children to have fun, learn about STEM, and take their minds off of being in the hospital. Hannah has also held many of her own fundraisers for CMN, including: the Buchanan Resort 4th of July Golf Cart Parade, Cupcakes & Crowns with Miss Tennessee, and a local business donation drive for CMN in Henry County.

In addition to her fundraising efforts for Children’s Miracle Network, Hannah has volunteered for Dairy Queen’s CMN Miracle Treat Day, IHOP’s CMN National Pancake Day, Queen/Superhero for a Day Events, and Musicians On Call for the past few years. Hannah also volunteered by participating in the opening of Speedway Gas Stations with proceeds going to CMN, as well as volunteering for the Nashville’s Channel 5 Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital CMN telethon.

Hannah traveled to Atlantic City, New Jersey in September 2015 to compete for the title of  Miss America and placed in the Top Seven!  She is the first Miss Tennessee to win America’s Choice at the Miss America Pageant and is also the first Miss Tennessee to be awarded one of five $5,000 STEM Education Scholarships at the Miss America Pageant.  Hannah is also the first Miss Tennessee to be recognized by a separate panel of judges as 1^st Runner Up to the National Quality of Life Award for her work with the Arthritis Foundation, winning an additional $9,000 in scholarships.  Hannah is honored, humbled and blessed to have the unique opportunity to be a role model and mentor to thousands of students across the state of Tennessee."

Thank you Hannah for making us so proud!

Hannah is the daughter of Pam and Rusty Robison, owners of Buchanan Resort here in our neighborhood at Paris Landing.