West Potomac Alum Named U.S. Cherry Blossom Queen

From the National Conference of State Societies:

On Friday, April 13th, Margaret O’Meara from the Commonwealth of Virginia was chosen to serve as the 2018 U.S. Cherry Blossom Queen. O’Meara’s coronation was the highlight of the Cherry Blossom Grand Ball, hosted by the National Conference of State Societies (NCSS) at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C. O’Meara was crowned with the ceremonial Mikimoto Cherry Blossom Pearl Crown, hand constructed with over two pounds of gold and 1,585 pearls personally selected by the late Mr. Kokichi Mikimoto, founder of the iconic Japanese jewelry company.

O’Meara grew up in Northern Virginia and is a 2015 graduate of West Potomac High School. She is completing her junior year at Virginia Tech, majoring in Communications Studies with a minor in Art History. A dean’s list student, O’Meara serves as Vice President of the Virginia Tech Union (VTU) and is an active leader in her Sigma Kappa Sorority chapter. She was selected by the Society of Virginia to represent the Commonwealth as Cherry Blossom Princess through a competitive process based on leadership skills, academic achievements, and interest in social, civic, community, and international affairs.

As the 2018 U.S. Cherry Blossom Queen, Margaret will travel to Japan this May as a goodwill ambassador on behalf of both the state and nation. In Japan, she will participate in meetings with high-ranking government officials, including Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. She will also meet with members of the Japanese royal family and representatives from the program’s leading sponsors, including Al Nippon Airways, Otsuka Pharmaceutical, and Mikimoto.

The Cherry Blossom Princess Program is a cultural exchange and professional development program for women leaders ages 19 through 24. It is focused on a week-long period of education and celebration that includes a gala, parade, and a host of other events in the nation’s capital, timed during the final week of the annual National Cherry Blossom Festival© in Washington, D.C. The program is managed by the NCSS, the congressionally-chartered, non-profit, voluntary umbrella association for state and territorial Societies in the National Capital Area.

Since 1948, state and territorial societies, along with several embassies in the nation’s capital, have enabled more than 3,000 young women leaders from across the country and around the world to participate in this program and in the celebration of the unique and enduring friendship between the United States and Japan. These young women represent their respective states, territories, and countries in both public and private events held each day across the Washington, D.C. area, and they engage with leading government, business, arts, and media leaders, as well as other role models. This year’s events included meetings with White House officials, the U.S. Institute of Peace, Speaker Paul Ryan, and Japanese Ambassador Shinsuke Sugiyama.

In addition to Margaret O’Meara, the Commonwealth boasts a legacy of being home to two previous Cherry Blossom Queens: Jill Robin Zeavin (1977) and Elizabeth Ann Krabill (2003). O’Meara will be the first U.S. Cherry Queen hailing from Virginia to visit Japan in over a decade.

Images via Carl E. Bouchard, National Conference of State Societies