“Life’s a journey, not a destination,” is a phrase brought to life by noted philosopher and essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson more than a century ago, and dragged into pop by rock legends Aerosmith in the early 1990s.
Its basic point is that life is an experience to be enjoyed as it happens, not an end goal to be reached in a specific time frame.
Liz Voight can relate, given the eventful journey life has taken her on – from her formative years growing up on her family farm in the Northern Lebanon School District, to gaining local notoriety as a high school basketball standout, to joining the teaching and coaching ranks in the Cornwall-Lebanon School District, where she is currently employed as a first grade teacher at South Lebanon Elementary School as well as an assistant coach for Cedar Crest’s 9th grade girls basketball team.
And then there’s the not so little matter of a burgeoning pageant and modeling career that first began six years ago, when she was named the 2018 Lebanon Area Fair queen. That honor led her to becoming the state Fair Queen soon after, and last year, Voight took yet another positive step in her life and career when she earned first runner-up honors at the Miss Pennsylvania pageant.
“I grew up on a farm and didn’t really have any interest in pageants at all. I would always say I was showing cows and then doing sports,” Voight said recently. “Basketball was a huge part of my life, I really wanted to play in college. But then, it’s funny, I like to say, how God works. I was crowned the state fair queen and that kinda (changed) a lot of things. If I went to play basketball (in college) that would really conflict with my year as Fair Queen and traveling. So I went that route and I just really saw the difference I was making. I met so many people and I was just representing something that was really important to me.”
Now that’s a journey, and one that will continue for Voight on June 28, when she again competes in the Miss Pennsylvania pageant, with an eye toward earning a victory this time around and representing the Keystone State in the Miss USA competition in August.
“I just kinda decided to go for it,” Voight said of what led to her desire to become Miss Pennsylvania. “I really didn’t have anything to lose. I was first runner-up, and now I feel like I have more direction and know what to expect and what to do. This whole year was a little bit more purposeful, I think. I’ve always watched pageants, like Miss Universe, but never thought I would do it. But here I am. And now I’m hooked.”
Interestingly enough, Voight has found herself drawing on some of her basketball experience at Northern Lebanon, where she was a three- year starter, a key member of the Vikings’ 2017 District 3 4A championship team and a career 1,000-point scorer, to help her through some of the more challenging aspects of pageant life.
“I always go back to basketball, and even to showing cows (at various fairs), putting that pressure on yourself (to perform),” said Voight.
“I think of Battistelli,” she said of her coach at Northern Lebanon, Ken Battistelli, whose fiery leadership style and motivational skills left an impression on Voight and her teammates.
“I just picture him, honestly, when I’m working out and want to give up. I’m like, ‘Nope’ and I just push through. I’m gonna do my best, and let God do the rest.”
And make no mistake about it, competing again for Miss Pennsylvania will require Voight to be at her best, and she knows it. In addition to an evening gown walk, in which she must wear six-inch platform heels that are not exactly standard footwear for showing cows or playing hoops, Voight and her fellow contestants must answer a number of questions on a variety of topics.
“Before the pageant, you turn in what is almost like a resume,” she said, with questions like: Why do you want to do this? What are some of your goals? Describe your personality? If you were to be crowned how would you represent Pennsylvania?
“You turn that in beforehand and then at the pageant, it’s two days, and the first day you go through interviews. They basically ask you questions that are on that resume, and they can also ask you some very political questions,” said Voight. “You have to be able to sort through really anything. It’s tough.”
On the second and final night come more questions for the contestants, as the field is cut down to the final 15, and then the top five before a winner is crowned. Not surprisingly, Voight is hoping to move up a spot from last year’s finish and continue her pageant rise.
“This year, I know what I need to work on to elevate myself even more,” Voight said. “I started modeling and that’s been really fun, kinda getting my name out there. I now know what I need to work on and prove myself. Obviously you have some nerves because you’re the one to beat because you were first runner-up. To be able to represent my state again would be an honor.”
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