Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Miss Kosciusko, Shiloh Butler of Syracuse, left for the Miss Indiana competition today, after attending and participating in the local "Relay for Life" cancer fund-raiser to begin a week's worth of public appearances ending with the pageant June 17 in Terre Haute.
No stranger to the stage or an audience, she's been dancing, since she was 3-1/2 years old, performing gymnastics, cheering on Wawasee Warriors sports fans in high school and, most recently, promoting her platform, mental health, before all manner of organizations and groups.
She is the daughter of Susie and David Butler.
When she is not engaged in Miss Kosciusko appearances, Butler is a junior at Purdue University, where she studies psychiatry. She is also an aerobics and gymnastics instructor and a cheerleading coach.
Where does she find the stamina? From deep inside.
And Butler probably has to reach deeper than most. She suffered from depression so severe during her junior year at Wawasee High School that she began cutting her flesh. She dropped out of school for half a year, began a course of anti-depressants and began seeing a counselor.
The petite, hazel-eyed blonde, who seemed to have everything going for her, was sad.
She had been that way for years.
"I had everything in high school," she said. "I thought I shouldn't be feeling this way. I suppressed it. I was a very good actress."
She's not acting anymore, with the help of daily medication and therapy, Butler believes she can help others recognize the feelings of sadness and despondency because she went through it and, on occasion, still feels its phantom presence.
"I especially like speaking to high school students," she said. "It's important to get the help. They think they can feel better by themselves. You can't. You can't do it alone."
Butler isn't doing it alone. She has the support of her family, many friends, an entire community and her sorority sisters, the members of Chi Omega.
"Many of them plan to attend the pageant," she said of her supportive pledge sisters. "They're all very good with me."
They tease her about meeting Payton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts during a recent Mental Health Association fund-raiser.
Three other competitors also attend Purdue.
Her talent segment for the Miss Indiana title will be gymnastics, and the 20-year-old admits to feeling the strain.
"I'm a little old for gymnastics," she admitted. It's what she knows and she may well backflip her way into the hearts of the Terre Haute judges as she did last year on the WHS stage July 24.
She looks forward to the coming week, which she anticipates will be full of fun.
"I'm very prepared to go down," she said. "The directors have been great. My gymnastics routine is ready."
She's been coached, gone through hours of mock interviews, has made sure the shoes match the dresses, is putting the final touches on her talent segment outfit and has completed "a million other tiny details."
All that's left is to go, impress the judges with her intelligence, demeanor and sophistication, smile her glorious smile, oh, and bring the Miss Indiana crown back to Kosciusko County.
