My why. 

Reading has always played a significant role in my life. My family sparked a passion for reading within me at an early age. Growing up with a single mom who was attending college, living on Medicaid, and in free/reduced housing - meant I might not always get the new Barbie I wanted, but a book was never turned down. I spent my nights living in a crime-stricken neighborhood bonding with my mom and adoptive dad over tales of far-off lands and grand adventures. As a young girl on the Pine Ridge Reservation, I spent my time reading in my mom’s classroom and my grandma’s library in Martin, engulfed in as many books as I could get my hands on. My love for reading created a foundation that set me up to excel in my schooling, my career, and my life. Lack of literacy and an increase in crime has a direct link. 2/3s of students who cannot read proficiently by the end of the fourth grade will end up in jail or on welfare. 85% of children who interact with the juvenile court system are functionally illiterate. Additionally, over 70% of inmates in America’s prisons cannot read above a fourth-grade level. It’s not just crime, lack of literacy affects all areas of life; 50% of adults can’t read a book written at an eighth-grade level and only 1/3 of American fourth graders reach the ‘proficient’ reading level. So, what will I, as Miss South Dakota, do to fix this? Three steps: access, education, and representation. Access to literature of all kinds - print and audio - is crucial to the lifelong foundation reading creates. Less than 15% of South Dakota towns have access to a public library, so I built six Little Free Libraries for rural and underserved communities and as Miss South Dakota, I will build 20 more. In just three years, I have collected 5,869 books to fill these libraries and to be donated to homeless shelters, children’s homes, and juvenile services centers. Education is vital to success and pushes beyond the four walls of a classroom. In order to teach the importance of increased literacy rates and create a catalyst for improvement, I filmed a public service announcement for Page Turners that broadcasts daily in homes of four different states. As Miss South Dakota, I will partner with Gray Media to expand my PSA to their 36% share of American households. For those who prefer to listen rather than watch, the Page Turners Podcast opens the conversation about increasing literacy rates. The first season is 15 episodes, sharing the ideas of well-known authors as well as public speakers and TikTok influencers. Season 2 will expand on those conversations. School visits and organizational appearances allow conversations about literacy to take place in real-time. As Miss South Dakota, I plan to visit 100 different groups, sharing the importance of reading with everyone. Representation refers to the idea that if students see people like them reflected, they are more likely to identify with and imagine themselves as belonging in that space. Representation from a young age allows all people, minorities especially, to feel validated and open to expressing their own opinions and ideas while sparking the passion to continue reading and exploring worlds and ideas within pages. As Miss South Dakota, I will continue working with Kind Cotton, an online clothing company that donates books focusing on marginalized communities with their one-for-one model. I, too, will help provide books and uplift authors who are sharing diverse and unique stories as well as involve them in the Page Turners Podcast discussion, so their ideas become our ideas. Reading expands knowledge, lowers stress, and strengthens relationships through bonding. As Miss South Dakota, I will continue my work increasing literacy rates so that every South Dakotan aged 4 to 94 can find their Page Turner and Fall in Love with Reading.