2018 Judges Panel Announced for Miss America’s Outstanding Teen

Lacey Russ Randall, from Oklahoma, was selected Miss America’s Outstanding Teen 2011. She has a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Education from Oral Roberts University and, until just recently, worked as the Board of Trustee & Internal Communications Liaison to the Office of the President at ORU. Having previously taught music outreach in impoverished communities in Indonesia as well as English in Paraguay, she will begin teaching sixth grade math in Jenks, Oklahoma, in August.

Dr. Ivan Pulinkala, originally from New Delhi, India, now residing in Georgia where he serves as the Dean of the College of the Arts at Kennesaw State University. He is the founder and chairperson of the Department of Dance at Kennesaw, and travels nationally and internationally choreographing and teaching dance. Ivan received his doctorate in Higher Education Administration from the University of Alabama.

Patrick Bowen, from Las Vegas, Nevada, has been the Director of the World Jazz studies program at the Las Vegas Academy of the Arts since 2001. The school is the recipient of 12 Grammy Awards, an honor unparalleled by any other high school in the nation. He is also the principal percussionist with the Las Vegas Philharmonic and has performed with scores of performers who have graced the stages of Las Vegas. Patrick has a Bachelor’s degree in Music Performance from the Hartt School of Music and a Master’s degree in Music Performance from the University of Montana.

Emily Luther represented her home state of Rhode Island at MAOTeen in 2009, where her vocal performance of “At Last” won a Preliminary Talent Award. She attended the prestigious Berklee College of Music, majoring in Vocal Performance and Music Therapy. Emily’s professional singing career has brought her to television appearances on The Ellen Degeneres show and, most recently, as a contestant on Season 13 of “The Voice” where she placed in the Top 20 on “Team Adam Levine”.

Dr. Shaunna Payne Gold, a native Virginian, is the Associate Director for Assessment and Student Development in the Office of Multi-ethnic Student Education and affiliate staff with the Office of LGBT Equity, both at the University of Maryland. She has earned multiple degrees, including a Doctor of Education, a Master of Divinity, and a Bachelor of Business Administration. She is also an Ironman 70.3 triathlete, a  marathon swimmer, and runner…and she was Miss Roanoke Valley 2002.

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