Lessons learned in the barn, perfected on stage

INDIANAPOLIS — As a little girl, Katie Stam Irk was fascinated with the world of pageants, playing dress-up, wearing a homemade crown, and awaiting the annual televised spectacle of Miss America with anticipation. Becoming Miss America in 2009 surpassed her wildest dreams, and she recognized it as an opportunity to place agriculture and the dairy industry in a national spotlight.

“I can’t imagine a more special, beautiful way to grow up,” Irk said. “When you grow up on a farm, that is your life. I just kind of thought everybody grew up that way, because your world is very small. The older I get, the more I realize how special and unique it was to grow up in that environment.”

Today, Irk lives in Indianapolis and works in agricultural financing. She grew up on her family’s dairy and grain farm near the southern Indiana town of Seymour, where her family milked as many as 90 cows alongside her grandparents. Irk grew up enjoying feeding calves.

The majority of the dairy cattle left the Stam family’s farm in the early 2000s, when Irk’s grandfather became ill, eventually passing away in 2006.

“It was a transitional period for us,” Irk said. “We ended up selling a large amount of the herd, but were able to keep a few on the farm. It was just such a meaningful way of life for us.”

Irk said her father continues to have a few dairy cattle to provide milk for the family.

“We have a few Ayrshires and a few Holsteins, but not anything where we have the milk truck pick up our milk,” Irk said. “We have a bit of fun with it, making butter and cheese and those types of things. It ebbs and flows, how many animals are on the farm.”

Despite no longer earning their living dairy farming, Irk said her parents are proud to continue the dairy traditions into the next generation as their grandchildren are now becoming active in 4-H.

“We have had the same spot in the dairy barn at the 4-H fair for decades,” Irk said. “It’s important for our family to maintain that presence in the dairy industry and our dairy community.”

Despite her early fascination with the glitz and glamour of the Miss America pageant, Irk did not compete in her first pageant until she was a teenager, when she paid $40 to enter a newly established county-wide pageant.

“When I think about who I was at that time in my life, if someone had told me I would someday be crowned Miss America, I would have laughed in their face,” Irk said. “My cousin saw it advertised in the newspaper, called and suggested doing it together, because we’d always loved playing pageant. We had the best time shopping, preparing and competing together.”

To her surprise, Irk won the competition.

“I hadn’t thought what might happen if I won,” Irk said. “I’ll never forget the director coming over at the end, giving me a list of parades and other things I would do as Teen Jackson County, and (telling me) that they’d get me ready for the state competition. I was shocked, I had no idea what I’d gotten into. It was amazing that the first opportunity that came from a newspaper ad led me down the path to eventually competing for Miss America.”

Irk was 22 years old when she was crowned Miss America.

“It was a very short period of my life, when I reflect on it,” Irk said. “Yet so much of my life, so much of what I’ve been called to do, the opportunities I’ve had, come from those six years.”

As she navigated the path that led to Miss America, Irk said her eagerness to learn carried her.

“I was a fish out of water,” Irk said. “I had no idea what I was getting into, but I knew I loved it. I was soaking up every second of it.”

A bevy of volunteers helped pave the way.

“People don’t realize that Miss America is powered by volunteers,” Irk said. “There are thousands, at the local, state and national levels, who give of their time, energy and talent, making sure the experience is memorable and valuable to young women. It’s remarkable, and I had such an amazing group of people around me providing advice and wonderful lessons while also letting me do it the way I wanted to do it. They gave me the tools to let me shine.”

Pageants offer more than what is visible on the surface, Irk said.

“There is so much a lot of people don’t see about pageants,” she said. “The professional development, interview and public speaking skills, (and) the interpersonal communication skills are (all) perfectly aligned with skills necessary for success in business.”

Beyond those tangible skills, Irk said the personal metamorphosis she underwent made her the person she is today.

“There is so much growth and development that comes from competing in pageantry,” Irk said. “You learn the personal skills of being in a competitive environment and to build relationships with the young women (whom) you’re competing alongside, making sure you are physically, mentally and emotionally prepared for every phase of competition.

The pageants also helped her be better informed.

“How many 16-year-olds are not only keeping up with news, understanding the world around them, but formulating an opinion about those issues?” Irk said. “It teaches you to view the world through a different lens, with a different perspective.”

Irk’s dairy farm background made her unique among those who have worn the crown. The lessons learned on the farm helped her through the rigors of her year as Miss America.

“There is no dairy farmer who can succeed without having a high work ethic,” Irk said. “The work ethic I learned on the farm has contributed greatly to whatever successes I’ve had my hands on throughout the years. Growing up on the farm, I learned how to be accountable, to show up and to do the work that needed to be done, no matter what.”