Geico Alumni Athlete of the Month: Kamryn Blackwood

Kamryn Blackwood

Former Nova Southeastern University tennis player Kamryn Blackwood just recently finished up her year as Miss New Mexico USA 2014, and graciously took time out of her schedule to talk to NSUSharks.com.

In 2014, Blackwood was crowned Miss Farmington, which qualified her for Miss New Mexico, and, after earning that distinction, she moved on to compete in the Miss USA Pageant in Baton Rouge, Louisiana this past June. When asked what a typical day was during her year with the crown, Blackwood paused at first because of the sheer amount of things she’d done and places she’d been.

“I was able to travel a lot,” she said. “I went all around New Mexico and visited schools, telling high school students about how my journey was, about getting to go to college on a tennis scholarship and how that set me up for everything I’m doing now, which is amazing. I hung out with the Governor (of New Mexico, Susana Martinez) a lot, and got to go to the inauguration when she was elected again. I did a lot for breast cancer awareness, because that’s the official organization for Miss USA, as well as the organization I’m on the board with, National Day of Care, and Houses of Hope, from when I built houses in Africa.”

Blackwood devoted a lot of her time to visiting children in hospitals, doing public appearances like the Connie Mack Parade and going to sporting events at such places like New Mexico State University and the University of New Mexico, where she did in fact “wave” and “take a lot of pictures with a lot of babies.”

“It was an array of things, from kids to adults, international to national things; wherever I was needed, I made sure to get there.”

Prior to the Miss New Mexico competition, which Blackwood not only won, but was also named Miss Congeniality in a vote of her fellow contestants, the then-senior tennis player rushed from one coast to the next to prepare.

“I went out to L.A. a lot, for pageant prep, I have some girls who were former New Mexico’s out there,” said Blackwood. “They helped me with my dress, my hair, my walk and my interview, and it was an amazing place that prepped me for everything I needed to do. And then the pageant was in Baton Rouge, I was there for three weeks, and it was the coolest place ever. It was more of a hometown feel, so we got to relax a little bit more.”

While Blackwood was concurrently playing tennis at NSU, the athletic side of things helped in some ways, but not in others.

“I’ve been an athlete my whole life and did it collegiately at NSU, and thought, ‘I know what hard work is, I know stamina, I’ve got this,’ but it’s just different,” she said. “It was just something I never thought I’d do, and I have to learn how to walk like a girl now? Being an athlete helped, but it was just a whole different realm of living. How you present yourself it totally different.”

The spring of 2014 was an extremely hectic time for Blackwood, not just on and off the court, but on and off the pageant stage as well. She was preparing to compete in the prestigious Miss USA while also competing her undergraduate degree, and finally in June, she got to relax, at least a bit.

“After Miss USA in June, I finally got some downtime, which was awesome. I had gone from tennis spring season to graduation to pageant to now, and I started going crazy having like two weeks with nothing to do. But it was so nice to just finally hang out with my family because I had gone so many places that I really hadn’t got to see them. I traveled a little bit in the fall, but it was mostly in the state so it wasn’t as crazy.”

Recently was the time for Blackwood to hand her crown off to Miss New Mexico 2015, about a month ago in Las Cruces. It was almost a relief, and also provided her a definite sense of accomplishment.

“The whole weekend, everyone kept asking me if I was ready and if I was OK to give up the crown, and I truly was OK,” she said. “If I wasn’t ready, then I was missing out on something I didn’t do this past year. I just felt really relaxed and calm about it, I had my time and it’s someone else’s time now. I did everything that I could have done and met some incredible people along the way. The new girl that won (Alexis Duprey) is amazing, and I’m still connected with it, so I’ll help her throughout her year this year.”

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