(Above) Photo credit: Russell Jensen, Sage Studios
By Troy Schwindt
For the second time in three years, a figure skater has claimed the Miss South Dakota title. Joelle Simpson, 20, was crowned Miss South Dakota 2024 at the pageant held at South Dakota State University in Brookings on June 2.
Photo credit: By Bob Grandpre, Grandpre Photography
Simpson, a student at the University of Minnesota where she is majoring in medical laboratory science, won the preliminary talent portion of the pageant with her performance of the Swan Lake harp cadenza, a piece with 630 notes that she worked on for a long time. There were 20 contestants. She owns a small business as a harpist and has played in the Black Hills region for weddings and events since she was 13.
Simpson will now compete for the title of Miss America 2025 in January.
In 2022, her good friend, Hunter Widvey, earned the Miss South Dakota crown. Both women trained in Rapid City under coach Debbie Minter.
“It was a super fun week, packed with three days of competition — private interview, talent, health and fitness, evening gown and on-stage question for the preliminaries,” Simpson said. … “I made the top 10 and Saturday night competed all the events again for the finals. I also won a STEM scholarship award and the rookie of the year award since this was my first time at the state event.”
Simpson started skating as a child in Rapid City and fell in love with the sport. Last year, she started competing in synchronized skating and represented the bronze-medal winning Northernettes collegiate team at the 2024 U.S. Synchronized Skating Championships.
Building friendships, she said, was the biggest reward of being on the team.
Photo credit: Bob Grandpre, Grandpre Photography
“The friendships that I’ve made from it, I feel that was maybe the one area of skating I was lacking in — the sportsmanship, that team aspect, and I feel like I got to see that and experience that during my year on the Northernettes collegiate team,” Simpson said. “I had never done synchro before, so it was fun to not only learn, but grow my friendships with all my teammates.”
Simpson and Widvey have been friends for several years. It was actually Simpson’s mother who recruited Widvey into pageants as a teen. Widvey went on to become Miss South Dakota Teen before earning the coveted Miss South Dakota crown.
Widvey helped Simpson with the interview portion of the pageant and with hair and makeup. In terms of advice, the women talked about their experiences in skating (they passed their gold skating skills test on the same day) and how Simpson could use those at the pageant.
“Our coach, Debbie, told us, ‘Pretend you’ve already won when competing,’” Simpson said. “I know my experiences in skating equipped me to be successful on stage. I went into this event with no expectations of winning the crown — I just wanted to have fun and be confident on stage and I think skating and having Hunter’s advice helped my do just that.”
Photo credit: Russell Jensen, Sage Studios.
Simpson is a great student, because of two important traits: she works hard and doesn’t give up, Minter said.
“It’s a pleasure to work with someone like that,” Minter said. “As she got older and more advanced, our relationship became more collaborative with her taking ownership over her goals and how to accomplish them. She has been a fantastic role model for our younger skaters and we’re delighted to have her back at the rink this year.”
Minter sees many similarities between Widvey and Simpson, including their work ethic, determination and refusal to give up.
“Both of these young women have outstanding attitudes always and understand the importance of showing the younger skaters how it’s done,” Minter said. “We have a kind, welcoming group of skaters at our club and I believe it’s due to the example skaters like Hunter and Joelle set on and off the ice.”
Simpson will spend the next year representing South Dakota at various events in the Mount Rushmore State as she prepares for the Miss America Pageant. She plans to return to college after her reign and finish her degree, as well as rejoin the Northernettes.
“Although skating has to be a little bit on the back burner this year during this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, it will always be important to me. I want to continue to develop as a skating coach and help others learn the lessons I’ve learned from the sport,” Simpson said.
