Alumna Maggie Benton Crowned Miss Arkansas 2017

Emma Schock

Miss Arkansas 2017 Maggie Benton

Jonesboro native and U of A communications alumna Maggie Benton (BA’17) won the title of Miss Arkansas 2017 at the 80th Miss Arkansas Scholarship Pageant June 17.  Benton was crowned by the outgoing Miss Arkansas, Savannah Skidmore, and Miss America, Savvy Shields, both U of A students.

Benton’s ties to the U of A run deep: she has several alumni in her family, including her brother, sister, grandmother, and cousins. Her great-grandfather Murray Rasberry would host new coaches until they were able to settle in.

“I grew up coming to Razorback games,” she said, “so I was always in Fayetteville, even though I grew up in Jonesboro.”

During her four years at the U of A, Benton studied communication and journalism. A member of Chi Omega, she also served as the vice president of the Associated Student Government during her senior year. She was also a student ambassador for admissions, served on the Chancellor’s Commission for Women and was vice president of marketing for the Student Alumni Board. In the spring, Benton was named a U of A “Senior of Significance.”

“My experiences on campus and with my crown parallel,” she said. “The skills I learned at each sharpened each other.” Benton credits the U of A with teaching her professionalism, hard work, time management, leadership and “how to get by without a lot of sleep!” She was also in the U of A concert choir and the women’s chorus as a soprano one, which gave her the muscle memory and confidence to perform her talent onstage: a vocal performance of “The Music of the Night” from The Phantom of the Opera. That performance earned her a tie for the win in the preliminary talent competition.

During her year as Miss Arkansas, in what Benton described as “a full-time job,” she will travel and make appearances across Arkansas, serving as the state’s spokesperson for the Children’s Miracle Network and the Arkansas Children’s Hospital. In addition, she will promote her personal platform, “Giving is a Gift,” which aims to encourage others to realize the gifts they have been given and to respond by giving freely of their resources – both time and money. She said she wants to talk to children about doing random acts of kindness, high school students about volunteering, and adults about asking themselves, “what pulls on your heartstrings, and how can you use that to impact your communities?”

She believes that the rewards of giving to others are immeasurable. “When we share with others, we show acts of kindness that have the potential to tremendously impact not only communities at large, but the individual lives around us.”

In addition to more than $75,000 of in-kind donations including awards, wardrobe, transportation and gifts, Benton will receive more than $37,000 in scholarship money, which she plans to use to attend the Clinton School of Public Service. “I really love the idea of working at a non-profit, maybe as a director of a charitable foundation,” she said. “But I also have an interest in working behind the scenes in government.” While she hasn’t made a final decision about what field she will be pursuing, she said she is hoping graduate school will help her find her focus. “I don’t want to be closed-minded about what opportunities will come my way,” she said. “I’m always willing to try a new path.”

Benton will go on to represent Arkansas at the 2018 Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City September 10.