{"id":27010,"date":"2019-03-15T05:00:48","date_gmt":"2019-03-15T10:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/?p=27010"},"modified":"2019-03-15T00:05:15","modified_gmt":"2019-03-15T05:05:15","slug":"austin-peay-state-university-senior-sierra-salandy-to-represent-tennessee-at-miss-black-u-s-ambassador-pageant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/2019\/03\/15\/austin-peay-state-university-senior-sierra-salandy-to-represent-tennessee-at-miss-black-u-s-ambassador-pageant\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin Peay State University senior Sierra Salandy to represent Tennessee at Miss Black U.S. Ambassador pageant"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Austin Peay State University (APSU)<\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-324279\" title=\"Austin Peay State University - APSU\" src=\"http:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Austin-Peay-State-University-APSU.jpg\" alt=\"Austin Peay State University - APSU\" width=\"250\" height=\"64\"\/><strong>Clarksville, TN<\/strong> &#8211; Sierra Salandy\u2019s last year in college typifies her entire time at Austin Peay State University (APSU).<\/p>\n<p>Busy. And amazing.<\/p>\n<p>She started off the semester as a legislative intern in the Tennessee General Assembly (one of a record 11 from APSU this year). And during her first week on Capitol Hill, she found out she\u2019d won the crown of Miss Black Tennessee US Ambassador.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_446786\" style=\"width: 490px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/APSU-senior-Sierra-Salandy-to-represent-Tennessee-at-Miss-Black-U.S.-Ambassador-pageant-1.jpg\"  class=\"thickbox no_icon\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-446786\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-446786\" title=\"Austin Peay State University senior Sierra Salandy is serving as legislative intern in state Sen. Brenda Gilmore\u2019s office at the Tennessee General Assembly. (APSU)\" src=\"http:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/APSU-senior-Sierra-Salandy-to-represent-Tennessee-at-Miss-Black-U.S.-Ambassador-pageant-1-480x320.jpg\" alt=\"Austin Peay State University senior Sierra Salandy is serving as legislative intern in state Sen. Brenda Gilmore\u2019s office at the Tennessee General Assembly. (APSU)\" width=\"480\" height=\"320\"\/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-446786\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Austin Peay State University senior Sierra Salandy is serving as legislative intern in state Sen. Brenda Gilmore\u2019s office at the Tennessee General Assembly. (APSU)<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The political science senior will represent Tennessee in the Miss Black US Ambassador pageant July 29th-August 4th in Atlanta, Georgia.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFinding out during orientation week of the internship, that moment in itself was so surreal,\u201d Salandy, who graduated from Siegel High School in Murfreesboro, said. \u201cMy platform for the pageant is to promote more women to get involved with politics, law and government.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In addition to finishing off her degree at Austin Peay, Salandy will serve in Sen. Brenda Gilmore\u2019s office in Nashville until the end of the legislative session and she\u2019ll travel around Tennessee in her role as Miss Black Tennessee US Ambassador (she visited her old elementary school, Siegel Elementary, recently to speak to the second-graders).<\/p>\n<h3>Politics Is So Powerful And Impactful<\/h3>\n<div align=\"center\">\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Sierra Salandy #GovLife\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/IDSnHcgGr8Y?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Her political ambitions and pageant platform align nicely.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m a huge advocate for women empowerment, and I want to be a role model for young women, especially young black women, because I love inspiring others, and I\u2019m very passionate about community service, diversity and sisterhood,\u201d Salandy said.<\/p>\n<p>[320left]\u201cPolitics is so powerful and impactful. It affects me. It affected my ancestors. It affects all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She plans to attend law school, and after she serves as a lawyer, she wants to pursue political office.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019d love to work for a law firm, a court or a judge, or even an organization that promotes women who run for office,\u201d Salandy said.<\/p>\n<h3>Challenged In All The Right Ways<\/h3>\n<div id=\"attachment_446787\" style=\"width: 490px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/APSU-senior-Sierra-Salandy-to-represent-Tennessee-at-Miss-Black-U.S.-Ambassador-pageant-2.jpg\"  class=\"thickbox no_icon\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-446787\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-446787\" title=\"Austin Peay State University senior Sierra Salandy will represent Tennessee at the Miss Black US Ambassador scholarship pageant this summer in Atlanta, Georgia. (APSU)\" src=\"http:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/APSU-senior-Sierra-Salandy-to-represent-Tennessee-at-Miss-Black-U.S.-Ambassador-pageant-2-480x320.jpg\" alt=\"Austin Peay State University senior Sierra Salandy will represent Tennessee at the Miss Black US Ambassador scholarship pageant this summer in Atlanta, Georgia. (APSU)\" width=\"480\" height=\"320\"\/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-446787\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Austin Peay State University senior Sierra Salandy will represent Tennessee at the Miss Black US Ambassador scholarship pageant this summer in Atlanta, Georgia. (APSU)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>With Sen. Gilmore, Salandy is analyzing bills, engaging in policy and sitting in Assembly sessions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI see them vote and debate on resolutions and bills,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s been very eye-opening because it\u2019s so hands-on. Every day, I\u2019m like, \u2018Yup, this is what I want to do.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Salandy\u2019s list of college accomplishments is long, including other political internships such as a semester serving in U.S. Senator Bob Corker\u2019s office in 2017.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve done a lot of internships,\u201d she said. \u201cWith that, I\u2019ve worked with a lot of policy, I\u2019ve worked with a lot of different constituents, world leaders, the vice president of this country, the prime minister of that country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>[320right]\u201cHere I am, just this sophomore intern,\u201d she added about her Corker internship. \u201cIt instantly grew on me, and it\u2019s continuing to grow on me. That\u2019s why I want to stay on this path. It\u2019s been a lot, but it\u2019s also been so great at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She cherishes her experience at Austin Peay.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI feel like I\u2019ve learned a lot about myself. I\u2019ve definitely learned a lot about politics. It\u2019s challenged me in all the right ways.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>To Learn More<strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>For more about the Miss Black US Ambassador scholarship pageant, visit <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.thembusam.com\" >thembusam.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>For more about the Tennessee General Assembly legislative internship program, go to <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.capitol.tn.gov\/Intern\" >capitol.tn.gov\/Intern<\/a><\/p>\n<p>For more about the APSU Department of Political Science and Public Management, visit <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.apsu.edu\/political-science-public-management\" >apsu.edu\/political-science-public-management<\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Sierra Salandy&#8217;s Accomplishments<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Miss Black Tennessee US Ambassador, 2019-2020.<\/li>\n<li>Intern, Tennessee General Assembly, January-May 2019.<\/li>\n<li>Intern, U.S. Department of Energy, August-December 2018.<\/li>\n<li>Intern, Clarksville law firm, summer of 2018.<\/li>\n<li>Intern, Sen. Bob Corker, January-May 2017.<\/li>\n<li>Worked with Cultivate the City in Washington, D.C.<\/li>\n<li>Studied at New York University the summer of 2017.<\/li>\n<li>Intern, World Relief in Nashville, Summer 2016.<\/li>\n<li>APSU achievements have included Tennessee Intercollegiate State legislature, Student Government Association, Pre-Law Society, Conversation Partners, College Democrats, College Republicans, APSU 1000, Dean\u2019s List.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Austin Peay State University (APSU) Clarksville, TN &#8211; Sierra Salandy\u2019s last year in college typifies her entire time at Austin Peay State University (APSU). Busy. And amazing. She started off the semester as a legislative intern in the Tennessee General Assembly (one of a record 11 from APSU this year). And during her first week [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[23,7841,262,9084,25384,512,825,33323,4568,4950,33016,1758,4373,14094],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4xGYI-71E","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27010"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27010"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27010\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27011,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27010\/revisions\/27011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}