Chesterfield County woman named Miss State Fair

Taylor Reynolds of Chesterfield County is the 2017 Miss State Fair of Virginia.

Reynolds, 21, is pursuing a degree in biology at Queens University in Charlotte, N.C., where she is a senior. She was crowned Oct. 29 and will compete in the Miss Virginia pageant next summer.

Reynolds is a recipient of an academic and athletic scholarship to Queens University as a member of the school’s track and field team. She has broken the university’s high and long jump records.

Her personal platform is “Start a Chain Reaction,” and she is part of Rachel’s Challenge. That program is named for Rachel Joy Scott, who died in the 1999 Columbine High School shooting. It is a collection of student empowering and mentoring programs that help youth at all grade levels combat bullying and feelings of isolation and despair.

“I want to use my title as Miss State Fair of Virginia to let everyone know that, in spite of having been bullied, you still can achieve and succeed at anything you put your mind to,” Reynolds said. “Kindness is the way to go.”

Reynolds succeeds the 2016 Miss State Fair of Virginia, Harlie Dale of Rockbridge County, who was first runner-up at this year’s Miss Virginia pageant.

Audrey Kate Taylor of Hanover County was named Miss State Fair of Virginia Outstanding Teen; Lydia Whitlow of Hanover County was named Miss State Fair of Virginia Teen in Training; and Hunter Lipscomb of Dinwiddie County was named Miss State Fair of Virginia Princess. The pageant awarded more than $1,425 in scholarship funds. Several renewable $23,000 scholarships to Hollins University also were awarded to contestants in their junior and senior years of high school.