Mail Tribune

Christine Boothby, 18, a senior at South Medford High School, was crowned Miss Rogue Valley during the annual scholarship pageant Saturday at the Craterian Ginger Rogers Theater. She will go on to compete for Miss Oregon in June in Seaside.

"I was really excited," Boothby said Monday. "I actually thought I'd lost it. It took me a second or two for it to sink in."

First and second runners-up were Sara George and Amy Lemke, respectively, both seniors at South Medford. There were 10 contestants.

Boothby is the daughter of Ruth and Brian Boothby of Medford. She was adopted from an orphanage in Calcutta, India, when she was 1 year old. She chose "Adoption, Starting or Expanding a Family" as her platform for the competition.

She recalled how a 14-year-old girl once asked her if she was shipped over in a box.

"That's when I realized I should educate people about what adoption is and how it works," she said.

She, her parents and her brother, Max, 16, traveled to India last month with other adoptive families to see the place of her birth.

"It was a really good experience," Boothby said. "It opened my eyes about the country where I'm from."

She said she was too young to remember anything about the orphanage, but she's always felt a connection to her country of birth.

Boothby, who also won Best Interview in the competition, plans to study pre-optometry and business after she finishes high school. She's been accepted into five schools but hasn't decided yet which she'll attend.

She's lettered in track and field, cheerleading and academics; was awarded Outstanding Achievement in Academic Excellence; and was ranked 10th in her class. She's gone on missions in Mexico to build churches for poor families and runs the nursery school at First Presbyterian Church in Jacksonville.

"We're extremely proud of her," Ruth Boothby said. "She's one of those kids who excels at everything. She's very outgoing and friendly ... and it came across to the audience."

Reach city editor Cathy Noah at 776-4473 or e-mail cnoah@mailtribune.com.