TERRANORA LOCAL Shelby Harasymenko, 20, has been selected as a finalist in the Miss World Queensland State Final that will take place in Brisbane on Friday, May 25.
Shelby was scouted by Miss World selectors through social media and appeared in the Queensland Preliminary Final at Surfers Paradise last Sunday, February 25.
The Weekly spoke with Miss World Australia director Debrah Miller who said she found Shelby via her Instagram page, but it was her sporting background in netball that helped secure her position.
“We have thousands of applicants apply and we also scout people for the Miss World first round,” she said.
“We scouted Shelby from Instagram but it was also her background in netball that helped secure her place.”
Shelby is currently in her third year studying a Bachelor of Education at Griffith University and while she has no prior modelling experience, she’s taken up the challenge whole-heartedly.
She said she had always wanted to make her mark with a large charity and Miss World will help her passion to aid disadvantaged children.
She also said she would like to use her qualifications to teach in less fortunate countries when she finishes her degree.
The Miss World hopeful has launched a fundraising webpage to raise funds for her nominated children’s charity Variety Australia Limited.
“I would like to thank you all for showing an interest in supporting myself and the children’s charity Variety Australia Limited,” she said.
“I have set up this page in my efforts to make a contribution to society by raising money and awareness for the children who are sick, disadvantaged or require special needs.
“Any contribution can help change lives no matter how big or small.
“My current studies allow me to work directly with the learning of children in the younger years; I have passionately devoted my studies to assisting with children’s growth and wish to take this a step further.
“Thank you for joining me on this journey and becoming an everyday hero.”
Shelby currently works part-time as a supervisor at Woolworths and was part of the winning U/18s Division One netball team in the Queensland State Finals.
She attended Lindisfarne Grammar School from the age of five and Shelby’s mum Michelle said her daughter has been involved with many leadership roles and volunteer work and ended her school year as sports captain in 2015.
“Her motto is live everyday as though it were your last, appreciating and loving the people around you,” Michelle said.
Shelby is now hopeful of progressing from the Queensland titles to the Australia titles.
Miss World is the largest and longest running international beauty pageant. Launched in 1951, it has become one of the world’s most watched annual events, with a worldwide viewing audience of more than one billion people.
The President of the Miss World Organization, Julia Morley, coined the phrase ‘Beauty with a Purpose’ more than 35 years ago and since then more than $1 billion (USD) has been raised in its name in support of children’s charities across the globe.
To make a donation to Shelby’s Miss World Australia campaign with proceeds going to to Variety Australia visit: https://missworldaustralia2018.everydayhero.com/au/shelbyseverydayheroes