You’ll have to be quick to catch up with 2024 Florida Strawberry Festival Court member Zion Nevaeh Keese, a senior at Durant High School who is a track and field and cross country dynamo. She runs the 100, 200, 4×100 meter relays and 5K races and also competes in the long jump.
In the on-stage interview question, Keese, the daughter of Brian Keese and Tabitha Tillman, said it was skills she learned through participation in those sports that will help her fulfill her responsibilities as a court member.
“I feel like they have both taught me to finish strong, so no matter where I am in life I will always push through and do my best in any circumstances whether it comes to answering questions or participating in community activities,” she said.
In fact, she fell in love with cross country so much that she led the team’s fundraising efforts when she raised more than $2,000 in one hour during a fundraiser. That’s team spirit.
When she’s not running, she’s an active member of the Delta Sigma Theta’s Growing and Empowering Myself Successfully (GEMS) program, which connects community-minded young women with academic and service opportunities. She is a member of the National Society of High School Scholars and Durant High School’s Art Honor Society.
In her free time. she inspires others through her YouTube channel, @zionnevaeh, which focuses on finding joy in her everyday life.
She hopes to serve as a beacon for the diversity of beauty. She wears her ‘signature’ big natural hair to remind others that you are beautiful just as God made you.
After answering the on-stage question, she said it felt like her soul jumped out of her body and she was just watching herself on stage.” It didn’t feel like I was in my body and then I was the first person called for top five,” she said. “I kept it together but once I looked over at my mom, she started crying and then I started crying. It was a great moment because it was a win that my family needed.”
Q: What is your experience in pageantry?
This is only my second pageant. I did my first pageant a couple months ago and won Durant High School’s December Calendar Girl Scholarship Pageant. Started practicing for the Queen’s Pageant right after that. I’m learning it’s important to be confident in the way you answer questions and the way you walk across the stage.
Q: What’s your favorite part of Florida Strawberry Festival?
I enjoy the strawberry shortcake stand. I feel like the volunteers are so kind and it shows the true Plant City. That people are just so very kind in this town.
Q: What’s your favorite Florida
Strawberry Festival food?
My favorite food is the donut burger.The donuts are the bun.It’s donut meat donut and whatever you want on the burger but I like mine with just cheese. You have to try it. It’s a good balance between sweet and salty.
Q: Who’s your role model and why?
Mine would have to be my mom. I feel like the way she’s raised me has shaped me into a wonderful woman. She’s very kind to everyone she crosses paths with. I feel like that has taught me to always welcome people with open arms and never judge a book by its cover so I always treat everyone with kindness.
Q: Is there anyone you’d like to thank for helping you reach your goal?
Mine would have to be my family for pushing me and encouraging me even from a far distance. I could feel them there. Miss Jessi Rae was my pageant coach. I feel like she did so much with such a small amount of time. She helped me gain even more confidence than I had before. She washed away any insecurity I ever had just by her encouraging words.
Q: What are you most looking forward to about your year on the Court?
I feel like God put me here to represent and encourage my community. I’m also really excited to see Kirk Franklin (a songwriter best known for leading urban contemporary gospel and Christian R&B ensembles). I remember being a little girl in church singing his songs, for a good hour we would sing his songs. I’m excited to meet him. One of his famous lines is “even though I’m hurt, see l smile.”