Vincennes junior crowned Miss ISU

TERRE HAUTE, Ind.-- Erica Eisenhut, a junior marketing major from Vincennes, was recently crowned Miss Indiana State University, besting nine other women for the right to compete for the title of Miss Indiana.

The daughter of J.D. and Hettie Eisenhut, she was crowned by A.J. Patton, Student Government Association president, and congratulated by Nicole Rash, the reigning Miss Indiana. This was her second year to compete in the pageant. Last year she finished first runner-up to Terre Haute native Jordan Lugar.

The opportunity to meet new people and secure money for school drew Eisenhut to the competition. In three years on the pageant scene, she has reaped many rewards.

“I have friends all over the state of Indiana,” she said, “The experience has made me more poised and well-spoken and unafraid of an audience.”

As she prepares for Miss Indiana this summer, Eisenhut will spend her time raising awareness of individuals and families dealing with bulimia.

“It’s not a strategy for getting thin. It’s an illness,” Eisenhut, who battled bulimia herself, said.

She wants to raise awareness on how the illness develops, what triggers it, how it effects the human body and the toll it takes on relationships.

“The most frustrating part of the experience is that people didn’t understand,” she said.

In addition to talking with students, Eisenhut wants to reach out to parents and teachers through workshops.

“Parents have a huge role in this,” she said, reflecting on her own experience.

“It was hard for me to deal with my own issues surrounding the illness, but I also had to deal with the fact it made my mom so upset.”

A music minor, Eisenhut is active in Indiana State’s Concert Choir. She is currently organizing a fundraising group to raise monies for the choir’s future trip to Italy. She is currently serving an internship with office of Alumni Affairs at the Rose Hulman Institute of Technology, alongside another former Miss ISU and Vincennes resident, Kaleena Dale.

In addition to securing a spot in the 2008 Miss Indiana pageant June 18-21 in Zionsville, Eisenhut was awarded a $1,500 scholarship. The Miss Indiana pageant is a preliminary pageant for the Miss America pageant.

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Contact: Freda Luers, Interim Director, Student Activities and Organizations, 812.237.3852 or fluers@indstate.edu

Writer: Paula Meyer, ISU Communications & Marketing, 812.237.3783 or pmeyer4@isugw.indstate.edu