Miss Washington County 2012 Twila Tschan takes Newberg, Oregon’s motto to heart. From a young age, she understood that her hometown “is a Great Place to Grow.” The newly crowned titleholder has seen her share of adversity and meets challenges head-on.

In 2011, Twila and her family received the shocking news that the pain she had been experiencing off and on since high school was caused by a cancerous tumor near her spine. They were told that immediate removal of this synovial sarcoma was necessary, but the surgery would leave Twila permanently without function or feeling in her left hand. Twila went home and changed her Facebook status to: “Already have the title of my memoir:  Coming to Grips: How One Woman Single-Handedly Saved the World. Miraculously, two surgeries, six weeks of radiation, and months of physical therapy later, she has basic use of her left hand and is now a one-year cancer survivor.

From this experience, Twila gained a deep understanding of the challenges families of children with severe medical problems face. Through involvement in the Miss America Program and the opportunity to promote the Children’s Miracle Network, Twila is excited to spend her year as Miss Washington County supporting children and families as they hope for their own miracle.

Twila has been a featured speaker and performer at various fundraising and awareness events, most notably at the GoDaddy.com Bowl’s Reading and Literacy day which awards more than $19,000 in Savings Bonds to fifth-graders who demonstrate proficiency in reading and writing. It was from these events that Twila was inspired to adopt Read Across America as her personal platform, and hopes to encourage the love and joy of reading as Miss Washington County 2012.

Last summer, Twila was selected to participate in a Quaker United Nations Office program in Geneva, Switzerland, where she was able to confer with various ambassadors and other high-level officials, as well as experience firsthand the inner workings of the United Nations, the U.N. Human Rights Committee, the World Trade Organization, the World Health Organization, and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Twila’s plans for the future include attending graduate school in either law or diplomacy, and working for the United Nations, the U.S. State Department, or a humanitarian NGO. Before writing the next chapter, however, Twila is looking forward to seeing how the story of Miss Washington County unfolds.

Source and photo: Miss Washington County Scholarship Organization