Cami Cushing, who in July ended a hectic year of activities and appearances as Miss Rodeo Utah 2006, says reading opens up a whole new world of learning.

"If you can read, you can do anything," she said.

"With all of my studying in preparing for Miss Rodeo Utah and even Miss Rodeo America, I had to read a lot of books from vet science books to the history of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association," she recalled.

More recent reading for Cushing includes "Character Is Destiny" by Sen. John McCain. "It was a really neat book because it talked about qualities that different people had shared in this world. For example, Pat Tillman, the NFL football player who went and served in the armed services in Afghanistan and died of friendly fire, but it showed that what he did for his country and his family was true courage."

As a child growing up, her favorite book was "Where the Red Fern Grows." That book "shows a love of animals that this boy had towards his coon dogs, sacrifice, he had a goal to have his own dogs and he had to sacrifice and work hard to obtain his goal."

Cushing, a public relations major at Weber State University, said that when she visited children in schools, "I would make sure to emphasize how important it was to learn how to read and study books, because you just don't use it growing up, you use it throughout your whole life."