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Champion High gives ’05 graduate royal send-off to Miss USA Pageant
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By Ed Runyan
Miss Ohio USA Natasha Vivoda had almost all A’s while taking honors classes.
CHAMPION — Chemistry and physics teacher John Fisher remembers Miss Ohio USA Natasha Vivoda from the chemistry classes he taught her during her junior and senior years at Champion High School.
The most notable thing about her may have just been her determination to succeed in the honors-level classes she took.
“I remember seeing you in the classroom every day, paying attention to the marks on the board and never doubting yourself or doubting your ability to learn that difficult subject,” he said of the 2005 Champion graduate.
In 2004 and 2005, there was no way he could have predicted what the future of the flute player and majorette would hold, Fisher said, as he spoke Monday morning in the Champion High auditorium.
He and hundreds of others, including the student body at Champion High, wished her well as she prepared to travel Friday to Las Vegas for the Miss USA Pageant on April 19. She qualified by being crowned Miss Ohio USA last November.
“When you were in my class, I had no indication that you would one day become a physical therapist or represent the entire state in the Miss USA pageant, and yet both of those things have come to pass,” Fisher said.
Vivoda, who is a couple semesters away from completing her bachelor’s degree in biology at Youngstown State University, works at Forum Health Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital in Howland and hopes to someday earn a doctorate in physical therapy.
“Your success can serve as a lesson to us all, that future greatness isn’t written on the faces of the people we meet every day,” Fisher said.
Fisher added that Champion Township has played a role in producing a number of famous people, including Champion graduate and NFL great Randy Gradishar and astronaut Neil Armstrong, who attended elementary school here and was the first man to walk on the moon.
“Your success serves to remind us that none of us here are common or small town,” Fisher said.
Vivoda was an honors student at Champion because she was ninth in her class of 135 students and took honors classes. She had a grade-point average of 3.8.
She followed that up with honors-level work at Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania, said a former math teacher, Garry Peacock.
Vivoda received proclamations and well-wishes from state Rep. Thomas Letson of Warren, D-64th, Township Trustee Jeff Hovanic and others.
Vivoda told the crowd, “Life is like a test. It tests your strength, and you have to find it within to see how strong you are, and anything’s possible. It really is.”
The 21-year-old has received medical treatment and undergone surgery for problems with her vocal chords since she was small.
These experiences, along with trips to hospitals to visit her grandfather, John Vivoda, in recent years caused her to become interested in the medical field, she said in an interview after the celebration.
Her grandfather, also of Champion, died in January at age 67, after a battle with cancer that lasted several years.
Vivoda, whose younger sister, Anastasia Kloss, is a sophomore at Champion, gave the Champion students a piece of advice: “Never be afraid to fail at something. Success is not being afraid to fail sometimes.”
Senior Daniel Headrick said after getting an autographed picture of Vivoda that her accomplishments have given a boost to Champion students.
Daniel said it’s great that “somebody from such a small town can go that far,” adding that she proves “your dreams can come true.” She also shows that “your education matters because she worked hard for it,” he said.
runyan@vindy.com