Iowa Elite and Midwest Elite Miss United States Agriculture Shelly Gardner is back home after a recent trip to Orlando, Florida, on June 24 & 25, to compete in the National Miss United States Agriculture Pageant.

Gardner excelled at the event and won her division’s area of competition of interview as well as the Director’s Award.

New this year, the Director’s Award was developed by the National Directors and the Regional Directors regarding a contestant that stood out not only at the event itself but through social media at the regional events including interactions they had with contestants through social media at those events.

Gardner shared her thoughts at receiving the award, “It was a shock. I had no idea that I was even being looked at for it. There were 93 registered contestants for the National Program. So, it was a huge honor to be the first recipient of it.”

Now back at home in Wellman, Gardner is looking forward to county and state fairs, and possibly judging some county fair queen pageants. In addition to being involved with the Wellman Fire Department and Kalona EMS First Responders, with her husband Joe, they farm land and livestock. They also have a four-year-old daughter and have a baby on the way in two weeks. To hear more about the recent competition, listen today  to the JJ Nichting Company In Touch with Southeast Iowa program on air and online at kciiradio.com.