Contact:
Elizabeth Blevins, Director, Office of Communications
Phyllis Noah, Communications Coordinator
Office: (740) 351-3810; FAX: (740) 351-3179; Cell: (740) 464-4854
940 Second Street – Portsmouth, Ohio 45662
E-mail: eblevins@shawnee.edu or pnoah@shawnee.edu
Web site: www.shawnee.edu

Ashley Caldwell, Miss Ohio USA, is a dental hygiene student at Shawnee State University. Here she is cleaning teeth for Sue Welty, of Portsmouth, in the SSU Dental Clinic.

SSU Dental Hygiene Student Crowned Miss Ohio USA 2011

            After only one year of running in beauty competitions, Ashley Caldwell, of Gallipolis, has become the new Miss Ohio USA 2011. The pageant was held at Shawnee State University’s Vern Riffe Center for the Arts.
            She is a dental hygiene student at Shawnee State University and will graduate next spring. Caldwell was Miss Ohio River last year and Miss Northwest this year.
            As part of her winnings, Caldwell received scholarships to O’More College of Design and Lindenwood University and partial tuition to New York Film Academy. She is also the ambassador for Pink Ribbon Girls and she will be featured on the cover of C Magazine in the December issue.
            Although she has never had modeling lessons, one of her pageant friends, Lehanna Craft, helped her with walking.
            “She was unbelievable,” Caldwell said. “She helped me out and I helped her out. She is a very good-hearted person.”
            As Miss Ohio, Caldwell will be involved in breast and ovarian cancer awareness and she wants to get involved with the American Diabetes Association.
            “My boyfriend is a Type 1 diabetic,” Caldwell said. “That’s something I feel very strongly about and I want to get involved with that organization.”
            Sometime in the spring of 2011, Caldwell will be representing Ohio in the Miss USA pageant.