By Cheyanne Admire
Cedar Creek alumna Autumn Moon recently competed in the Miss Alabama competition.
Moon is currently a nursing student at the University of Alabama, where she is studying to become a CRNA after graduation.
She describes herself as a “nerd” because of her investment in her academic success.
“Something I’ve learned is that being a nerd isn’t a bad thing,” Moon said. “In fact, it is something that I take pride in. I’ve been on the President’s List every semester that I’ve been here — which in nursing is no easy feat.”
Apart from her academics, she is also involved in various extracurricular activities, including the Best Buddies Special Needs Program.
“I have always had a passion for working to understand a group of people that are commonly misunderstood,” Moon said.
She is also a part of the Student Recruitment Team and tutors chemistry to be an encouragement to other girls who are also nursing majors.
Between activities in her busy schedule, she decided to try something new and compete for Miss Alabama.
Moon said that she had never competed in a pageant before but stayed optimistic through the entire experience. She wanted to show herself and others that you don’t have to fit a certain description to put yourself out of your comfort zone.
“I’ve always wanted to take part in pageants, but I let my own fear hold me back from that,” she said. “A valuable life lesson I’ve learned from this experience is that you’ll never know if you never try.”
She encourages those that are planning to compete in pageants to keep an open mind. As a competitive person herself, she explained that it is very easy to let the competition aspect steal the joy out of the adventure by overlooking the uniqueness of it all.
“It was such a unique experience and regardless of if you walk away with the crown or nothing, you still get to walk away with such an amazing experience,” Moon said. “For me, pageants are what I was afraid to do and it was something that I always thought would be cool. If there’s something you think would be cool to try, don’t let fear be a barrier.”
She describes the Miss Alabama competition as a once in a lifetime opportunity and is excited to see where this new journey of trying new things will take her.
