A West Virginia University alumna will compete later this month in the Miss America contest after winning Miss West Virginia 2022 using her agriculture background as both her talent and social impact initiative.
Martinsburg native Elizabeth Lynch graduated in May from the Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design with her master’s degree in food and nutritional science before being crowned Miss West Virginia in June.
To win the title, Lynch did a private interview, social impact pitch and on-stage interview, talent competition and evening wear competition. While the evening wear competition was focused on perceived confidence, the social impact pitch is based on the candidate’s passion.
Lynch’s passion has always been agriculture and has become a desire to educate consumers about where their food is from and the people who grow it.
“My time at West Virginia University allowed me to put myself in the shoes of the farmers here in West Virginia,” she said. “I learned a ton about the nutrition and feed manufacture side of things.”
She experienced the pilot feed mill in the poultry program, focusing on West Virginia’s number one agriculture commodity, broiler chickens.
“The pilot feed mill is huge and the research they’re able to do is groundbreaking,” Lynch said. “It’s research that affects people all over the nation. I’m very proud to have been a part of that, to work with Dr. Joe Moritz and to have been a part of his lab.”
Lynch’s social impact initiative aligns with her educational pursuits. “Growing Up, Growing Ag” is about supporting agriculture in West Virginia. She began her initiative five years ago and propelled it forward during the pandemic with “Farmer Fridays.”
“I interview different agriculturists, ag organizations and ag businesses across West Virginia in order for them to tell their stories,” she said. “My first interview was with Joe Moritz. He was my advisor for my master’s thesis.”
Lynch is a first-generation agriculturist and became passionate about agriculture at a young age. Though her family was not in the agriculture industry, she started riding horses at age 5 and started raising pigs through 4-H when she was 9. At the same time, she started participating in the Berkeley County school system scholarship competitions. When she was in high school, she became active in Future Farmers of America. She also raised sheep, hogs and horses on nearby farms.
“The Miss America organization really just allows me to put West Virginia agriculture at the forefront,” she said. “It gives me different opportunities to talk about agriculture and different ways of promoting different farms and farmers markets.”
Lynch will take “Growing Up, Growing Ag” to the national stage when she competes for Miss America 2023 Dec. 12-13, with the crowning of the 101st Miss America taking place Dec. 15. It will be livestreamed at 8 p.m. on NBCUniversal’s Peacock from the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn.
“As a young woman, I never thought I would see somebody like me be a part of the Miss America organization,” Lynch said. “Someone who doesn’t mind getting their hands dirty. Someone who doesn’t mind jumping in, doing the hard work, getting sweaty and dirty and enjoying the farm life.”
Lynch will pursue her doctorate at Texas Tech University. She was accepted into that One Health program, which is an interdisciplinary approach to improve public health, interfacing animal, human and ecological health from local and global perspectives.
Her goal is to become a professor and conduct research in animal science and agricultural sustainability.
“I may not have had a strong woman in agriculture to look up to. So instead of trying to find somebody to look up to, I became that person,” Lynch said. “Hopefully, I’ll be able to inspire other young women like me to be part of this organization that encourages professional development, empowers young women and provides scholarships for us to further our education.”
