Emily Tennant (2010) works hard for all A’s—including the Angus breed.

The following is an excerpt from Perspectives, the magazine of NC State’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. For the full article, visit the spring issue.

An urban perspective – that’s what cals freshman Emily Tennant thinks may have set her apart from her fellow finalists in the Miss American Angus 2007 competition, where she became the first North Carolinian to win the title (and the first winner from the South in 12 years).

The event, sponsored by the American Angus Auxiliary, was held this past November in Louisville, Ky. It is not a beauty pageant but a scholarship competition based on character, poise, academic achievement and knowledge of the beef industry (the winner is announced in conjunction with a grand champion Angus bull drive) – all displayed in three days of interviews, written examinations, essays, speeches and, finally, on-the-spot questions before an audience.

When the contestants were asked, ”How do you bridge the gap between rural producer and urban consumer,” Tennant had an advantage that her competitors from Iowa, Arkansas, Ohio and Kansas perhaps didn’t.

She practically grew up on that urban-rural ”bridge.”

Tennant is from Greensboro, where with a perfect GPA she ranked first among the 480 students in her Northwest Guilford High School graduating class before coming to N.C. State University as a Park Scholar. She is the daughter of Stan and Maggie Tennant, a cardiologist and registered dietician, respectively. The Tennants own about 40 head of Angus cattle, 15 of which live on land surrounding the family’s home on an urban farm they keep ”as a hobby,” Emily Tennant says.