Heidi Bunch/MCIN
Surrounded by admirers, Miss Nevada Bailey Gumm, answers questions from Mini Miss Contestants Saturday at the Hawthorne Convention Center.
Miss Armed Forces Day pageant contestants were treated to a surprise visit by Miss Nevada Bailey Gumm.
Gumm volunteered her time to travel to Hawthorne on Saturday night to not only judge the Miss Armed Forces Day contest but to also show the girls where hard work and poise can land you, if you try hard enough.
The radiant Miss Nevada was crowned in May of 2016 and represented our state in the Miss America contest later that year in Atlantic City.
A native Nevadan, Gumm is from Minden and calls her hometown a “small jewel in the state”. She began competing in the Miss Nevada competition in 2009. With hard work, determination and the ability to overcome loss, Gumm continued to work hard, placing fourth behind Miss Nevada Diana Sweeny, first runner-up to Miss Nevada Ellie Smith and again right behind Miss Nevada Katherine Kelly.
She commented after her win, “You can’t lose and not learn something from that. It’s not even that you lose. It’s you have to reflect back on, wow, I placed at Miss Nevada. Not many girls get to come here and those who do, not many place.”
A college student at Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Gumm has put her scholarship and enrollment to the college on hold as she works as Miss Nevada. At Westminster, Gumm is studying communications. She has a love of governmental affairs and politics. Her dream is to be a press secretary and her dream job would to be the press secretary of the United States of America. In an interview she states, “Hopefully you’ll see me at that podium.”
As Miss Nevada, Gumm shared inspirational words with the candidates of the Miss Armed Forces Day pageant. Understanding the emotions of the little girls, after the crowing of Mini Miss Armed Forces Day, where she crowed Jeaulani Mize, Gumm had each of the small girl’s line up, where they were able to try on the “real” Miss Nevada crown and have their photograph taken with “the celebrity”. Miss Nevada did take the time to ask each contestants name and speak directly to them and answer their non-stop questions.
Unfortunately, Gumm won’t be participating in this year’s Armed Forces Day parade due to prior obligations, but instead, she is sending down two of her pageant sisters, Miss Teen Nevada and Miss Carson City.
