Either the third time’s the charm for Nina Forest or hard work and persistence really do pay off.

Maybe it was a bit of both — likely mostly the latter — for the former Pocatello woman who was named Miss Idaho over the weekend.

Nina has sought the title twice before, taking fourth and then third runner-up in previous years. On Saturday, she brought home the crown.

She said it’s taken a lot of hard work, perseverance and, most of all, personal growth to get to this point.

“In that moment, it felt like everything came together and I was right where I was supposed to be,” she said.

Nina was also Miss Pocatello and is a former Distinguished Young Woman for the Pocatello/Chubbuck area.

And titles seem to run in her family’s blood.

Her younger sister, Rachel Forest, was also the Distinguished Young Woman for the Pocatello/Chubbuck area and currently holds the state DYW title. She’s preparing for the national competition in Mobile, Alabama, later this month.

But this weekend, Rachel was at the Nampa Civic Center in Nampa cheering her sister on.

“I’m so proud of her. I think she’s going to do great things with this year ahead,” Rachel said, adding that she believes community service opportunities and participation in the Distinguished Young Women program has helped her sister to prepare for the job of being Miss Idaho.

Nina agrees.

She says she enjoys participating in the scholarship programs that encourage women to be strong, kind, intelligent and compassionate, and she’s loved being able to meet many of the amazing women involved.

Nina also noted that she’s learned anything is possible with hard work and perseverance through her participation in the programs.

She started playing the piano in high school and, knowing that she would be competing against people who had been playing most of their lives, she pushed herself to develop the talent.

Her efforts paid off.

She won the Preliminary Talent category during the Miss Idaho competition. She also took the Four Points Award, which she said goes to the woman who best exemplifies the four points of the crown: style, scholarship, service and success.

Nina garnered $10,000 in college scholarships during the competition, money she will use to continue pursuing her studies in international relations and Chinese at University of California, Davis, in the future. She also won $18,000 of in-kind scholarships that will help her as she takes on her new responsibilities.

Despite her success, Nina admits she felt more pressure going into this weekend’s competition because her younger sister already had a state title.

“She’s already so successful. I’m really grateful I was able to keep up the facade of being the big sister,” Nina said.

She enjoys the fact that both she and her sister compete in scholarship programs — something that has helped them to develop a special bond.

And they’re among each others biggest fans.

Rachel competes in a red dress that Nina wore during her Distinguished Young Women competitions in the past. Rachel will wear it again in Alabama later this month, she said.

Nina is planning to be in the stands rooting for her sister during that event.

In the meantime, she’s trying to adjust to her new title and prepare for her own national event: the Miss America competition in September.

Nina says she’s excited to take part in the program, especially as it begins making some significant changes in the future.

Among other changes, the Miss America Organization recently announced that it would drop the swimsuit competition next year and instead give women more opportunities to talk about their achievements and goals, according to an Associated Press report.

“There’s a lot of unknowns this year, (but) I’m really excited to represent Idaho,” Nina said, adding that she hopes to show people how great the state is.

Nina is also looking forward to continuing work on her platform, Leave Childhood Hunger Behind, in the months ahead.