2010 - A year of new beginnings
December 12,
2009 Victoria graduated from Union University, summa cum laude, with a B.M. and three teaching certificates. The
following week she and Greg Shawgo were married in Jackson, TN. On January 1, 2010 they moved into their new home
in Montana where Victoria works with the music ministry at the church Greg
is the Youth Pastor. Victoria will begin working full time in September
as the k-12 Music teacher. In the meantime she is the director of the school system's afterschool
program and substitute teaches.
2009 - A year of promise and hope.
Victoria began 2009 with a trip to Vegas to cheer on Miss TN, Ellen
Carrington. In February, she began her final semester of core classes.
She will student teach in the Fall and graduate with a Bachelors of Music and three teaching certificates. Victoria
produced the fundraiser "Union Idol" for Union's SAI chapter in February,
sang at the Union "Remembering Feb. 5th Thanksgiving Service"
at the Carl Perkins Center, and worked with her fellow RAs to present the "Newsies"
at Union's Variety Show. She currently performs with three of Union's choirs as well as serves on
the ResLife staff and as a hostess at the Carl Grant Events Center to continue
paying off her college tuition. She continues to promote A.I.M.S. through
writing legislators, going to classrooms and being an active member of S.A.I., MENC and various other organizations. As
Miss Nashville 2009, Victoria is preparing for the Miss TN 2009 competition
in Jackson, TN this June. She has made several appearances and has served
by judging a local high school pageant, volunteering at community events in Nashville, speaking in classrooms
and organizing a fundraiser for the Children's Miracle Network.
2008
- A year of challenge.
In January Victoria sang at her grandmother's
funeral. In February she crawled out of a collapsed building after
an EF4 tornado destroyed Union University. Over the next three months
she worked to finish the semester and continued as an R.A. of students living in a hotel. In June she
competed at Miss TN and then finished the summer as a music intern with FBC working
with the staff, choir and orchestra. She also volunteered as a counselor
where she went on trips with students to New Orleans repairing houses; worked with middle
school girls in TN at a survival camp; and with children as a music instructor during funweeks. In September
Union opened the newly restored campus and Victoria was involved in a freak
accident that broke her elbow into three pieces. The next three months
involved therapy and some intense pain. Her father's new company became a victim of the economy;
Victoria had to give up paying positions that involved her playing the piano; she learned
to get by with her left hand in all her classes. 2008 was a very
challenging year; a year of growth; of character building.
