HANCOCK COUNTY — With an agriculture-based platform and a science demonstration talent, Hallie Wright was slated to be among the contestants of the Miss Indiana Competition this month.
The annual event has been put off a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Greenfield native plans to use her extra time to continue to advocate for farming and the study of the natural world.
“I’m so excited to show the world and especially show young girls that they can wear a lab coat and a tiara at the same time,” Wright said.
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She was named Miss Collegiate Indy in January, securing her a spot in the Miss Indiana Competition. (The Miss Indiana contest is an official preliminary to Miss America.) The 2014 Eastern Hancock High School graduate grew up as a 10-year 4-H member and seven-year FFA member. She earned a Bachelor of Science in plant genetics from Purdue University in 2018 with the help of an Lilly Endowment scholarship. Currently she’s pursuing a doctorate from the University of Georgia in plant breeding and genetics.
Wright said the Miss America Organization’s recent decision to do away with swimsuit competitions and focus more on young women empowering themselves excited her.
“For the longest time, I never thought I had a talent that was worthy of being represented on a Miss America stage,” she said.
Then she saw Virginia biochemist Camille Schrier perform the live science experiment that helped get her crowned Miss America 2020, and it inspired her to take a risk with a nontraditional talent of her own.
At the Miss Collegiate Indy competition in Kokomo earlier this year, Wright promoted her social impact initiative, “Become an ‘Ag-vocate’: Enhancing Agricultural Literacy.” Her science demonstration showcased how temperature and pH — the measure of how basic or acidic a solution is — impacts the study of DNA.
She began by pouring a solution in which DNA would be stable into one with a higher pH level, resulting in a color change. Explaining all the way, Wright then poured that solution into one that was more acidic, resulting in yet another color change. She also talked about how scientists who study DNA use dry ice to keep it cold enough, and illustrated that point with some dry ice of her own through a fog-infused finale on stage.
Wright bested nine other competitors to take the title.
Science is no different from talents often seen at those kinds of competitions, like singing and dancing, she said.
“I think a talent is anything that someone has a passion for, something that they might have a natural affinity for while also being able to fine tune it over time,” Wright said. “Something they can engage other people in.”
She’s confident that Miss America Organization competitions will continue drawing more contestants taking risks on passions rarely thought of as talents before.
It’s important for young girls to understand that science is a talent too, she continued. They’ll be imperative for helping resolve issues associated with climate change, water shortages and producing food for growing populations in the future.
“We’re really going to need not just positions filled in science jobs, but we’re going to need a diverse amount of perspective and new ideas,” Wright said.
Instead of being discouraged by the postponement of the Miss Indiana Competition, she’s looking forward to having the extra time as Miss Collegiate Indy.
“It sounds clichéd, but I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason,” she said. “I really think this additional year will help me to grow as a titleholder.”
She had a lot of agricultural outreach activities planned that she had to cancel because of the pandemic. But as rules restricting personal interaction hopefully continue to ease, she’ll be able to get to those activities eventually plus more ahead of next year’s Miss Indiana Competition. Wright added she developed a 12-month plan, and she intends to take full advantage of it.
“I’m just looking at it as an opportunity to keep growing,” she said.
She started her agricultural social impact initiative as a freshman at Purdue.
“Growing up in Greenfield, Indiana, I was very blessed to see at a young age the impact firsthand that agriculture had on my entire community,” she said.
The initiative sets out to resolve disconnections between people and agriculture, from kids thinking chocolate milk comes from brown cows to addressing misconceptions of farming practices involving genetically modified organisms. Last year, she got a grant to start an agricultural education program for middle school students.
When she gets her doctorate, Wright wants to work in the genetics of orphan crops, named so because they’re often neglected in the research sector while also often consisting of staple foods in some of the world’s most hunger-stricken nations.
Sarah Williams, an agricultural education teacher and FFA adviser at Eastern Hancock High School, taught Wright and remembers her well.
“Hallie was an excellent student,” Williams said. “Just always that student that was outgoing in class, always participated. She would always ask questions to dig a little bit deeper.”
Williams has kept in touch with Wright since graduation and said her academic pursuits and achievements are well deserved.
“I know she’s doing incredible things; I’m just really proud of her,” Williams said.
She admires Wright’s advocacy for science and agriculture.
“She really just has a true thirst for scientific-based research and improving practices that we have, especially in agriculture,” Williams said. “To inspire young females and her colleagues to continue that path or even start that path is definitely noble. It’s important so we can continue to grow our research- and our science-based fields.”
