Arts & Culture
Aria Conran Crowned Miss Lehi 2023
The Miss Lehi Scholarship Competition was held Saturday, June 3, at Lehi High School. Seven talented contestants competed for the title. Each had prepared for weeks to showcase their talents, health and fitness, poise, public speaking skills and willingness to represent and serve Lehi City.
Aria Conran’s well-spoken nature, authenticity, and focus on building financial foundations won over the judges as she was crowned Miss Lehi 2023 at the end of the competition.
Miss Lehi 2022, Savana Brown and Johnny Revill emceed the scholarship competition. The seven contestants had private interviews (30% of their final score) with five judges during the day on Saturday. The remainder of the competition categories–health and fitness (20%), talent (20%), evening wear (20%), and on-stage conversation (10%) were presented that evening in front of a live audience. While auditors tallied the scores after each event, Brown and Revill entertained the audience with friendly banter and remarkable musical numbers.
Conran’s community service initiative, a requirement of the Miss America Scholarship Organization, “The Health of Wealth: Building Better Financial Foundations,” is her passion. She shared her experiences with building a financial foundation and how a sound investment and savings plan helped her achieve her goal of attending college.
“My number one goal as Miss Lehi is to open conversations about building wealth. In my journey, I’ve learned that healthy finances make it easier for us to achieve our goals,” said Conran.
Conran is the daughter of Mike and Nuan Conran. She impressed the panelists throughout the competition with her speaking abilities and talent performance. She won a $4,000 scholarship and an additional $250 scholarship as the Kindness Like Alyssa Award recipient.
Miss Lehi’s attendants are Shaye Johnson (First Attendant) and Alivia Hadfield (Second Attendant). Each attendant received an $800 scholarship, respectively. Johnson also received a $100 cash prize and $300 for the charity of her choice as the first-place winner of the Community Award for her CSI. Hadfield also received a $250 cash prize for scoring the most points in the talent portion of the competition with her vocal performance. Hadfield also won a $50 cash prize and $50 to the charity of her choice for third place in the Community Award for her CSI.
AnaLeigha Meek received a $250 cash award for scoring the most points in the evening wear category and a $100 cash prize for selling the most tickets. Meek also won a second-place Community Award with a $75 cash prize and $75 to the charity of her choice. Additional award recipients were Sarah Shelley, the winner of the Director’s Award with a $100 cash prize; Charlie Lund was awarded Spirit of Miss Lehi and earned a $100 cash prize, a gift basket, and an additional $100 cash prize for the winning the Sponsorship Award; Alyssa Loftin received the Photogenic Award with a $100 cash prize as well as the Legacy Club Scholarship of $200. Each non-finalist contestant received a $300 scholarship.
“I’m so grateful for this opportunity. This was a great experience, and all the girls who competed were amazing. They have all been so supportive every step of the way. I hope to inspire the Lehi community to build their own wealth so they can serve others,” said Conran.
