OREM, Utah — For a moment, Michelle Harrison considered just wearing the dress given to her by the organizers of the country's most prestigious all-star game for high school basketball players — the McDonald's High School All-American event. After all, the whole experience was a little overwhelming, and it might seem ungrateful to complain.

Michelle Harrison

Photo by Stuart Johnson/Deseret Morning News

Michelle Harrison, honored as Utah's "Ms. Basketball," shoots in high school game. She will play basketball for Stanford at the next level.

She arrived in San Diego on Saturday, March 25, and found herself lavished with gifts, from new sweats, to shoes, to bags, to a formal gown that she was asked to wear to an awards banquet a few days later. The dress she had ordered was lost, and so organizers offered her four alternatives.

Feeling grateful just to be there, she thought about whether she should voice her concerns with the dresses, none of which had sleeves and all of which were low cut and short.

"I thought just for a minute about wearing one of the dresses, and then I said, 'I can't wear this!' " said Michelle after returning from the weeklong event, in which she won the Team Ball competition at the Jamfest, and scored five points and earned two blocked shots on the way to helping the West defeat the East 80-76 in the all-star game held on Wednesday, March 29, at the Cox Arena in San Diego.

"I have always really believed in modesty. I believe really strongly that a woman should value herself. I think it's especially important when you're dressing up because you attract more attention. I've always believed that, and it's always been a part of me. I didn't want to lower my standards just for one night."

So she asked the woman showing her the dresses about alterations. Michelle said she needed sleeves and more fabric on the front and back of the dress, and the woman agreed that the dress was so skimpy that she would not want to wear it either.

"I just figured, if they think I'm weird, it doesn't matter," Michelle said. "In the end, they totally understood and they fixed the dress. They put sleeves on it and covered it up on top, and it turned out really nice. It made me feel much better to wear a dress I was comfortable in."

Michelle was prepared for the experience in San Diego because she's been dealing with defining who she is for many years as she's traveled with elite teams and to national-level basketball camps. She is always referred to as "the girl from Utah" and almost always hears the same questions from new friends.

"They always ask me if I'm Mormon, and sometimes they want to know about it, which is cool with me," she said. "I'm never ashamed to say, 'Yeah, I'm Mormon.' I love what I believe in, and I live it in my life. It's a part of who I am, and I love to share it with anyone who wants to know more about it."

In fact, Michelle, who is the youngest of four children, sees basketball as both a blessing and a missionary opportunity.

"I have asked myself a lot, 'What good can you do with basketball talent?' " she said. "And then I realized, it's a great way to reach out. Maybe this is what I'm supposed to do. . . . I want to use my talent in basketball to be a good example."

Michelle even dealt with how to incorporate her LDS beliefs into her athletic life because it consumes most of her time. Because she is unable to attend Young Women activities during the week and is often gone during the summer when they have girls camps and other activities, she immerses herself in seminary classes, studies her scriptures with her family and attends her Orem ward's Relief Society with her mom.

"I love seminary," said Michelle, who turned 18 in December. "When I went on my recruiting trips, I made sure they all had institutes near their campuses, and most found bishops from the (local) wards and other LDS athletes to talk with me."

Her older sister, Kara, coaches Michelle's club team which begins practicing just after the high school season ends in late February and finishes in July. Kara Harrison asks her players to keep journals and maintain high standards. Michelle has seen the value of daily scripture study at work in the life of her oldest sister Christa, who has always studied daily and at 33 continues to keep a journal.

"It's really tough to do the weekly activities, especially when you're on Michelle's level," said her mom, Judi Harrison. "We do a lot as a family. Like last year when (President Gordon B. Hinckley) asked us to read the Book of Mormon, we did that, and we had some really great experiences. Michelle is a very deep thinker, and she loves learning. We'd always get in very deep discussions."

Sister Harrison said Michelle has always been willing to share her testimony.

"From the time she was 2 years old she wanted to get up and bear her testimony," Sister Harrison said. "And they weren't the standard testimony. . . . She'd get up and talk about things she'd been thinking about. . . . People used to always tell me she had the spirit of an adult."

The family is very dedicated to the idea of missionary work because of Sister Harrison, who converted as a young girl.

"They have grown up with that idea, because the missionaries knocked on my family's door," said the Cincinnati, Ohio, native. Michelle's older brother, Tyler, baptized her just before he left on his mission to Washington, D.C. The two have a special relationship and it reinforced Michelle's desire to follow in her brother's footsteps. She's not sure if she'll go on a traditional mission, but she feels her life can be filled with missionary opportunities.

"I think being a Mormon is the biggest blessing in my life," Michelle said. "I'm blessed with basketball talent, and I have to figure out how to use that in my journey."

Michelle was recruited by a number of colleges before she settled on Stanford. Her family helped her with advice and a fast just before she made her final choice.

"That was probably one of the most spiritual experiences of my life so far," she said. "We've done it before, and each time, I have felt there was always a great ending. I feel in many ways that Stanford is the right place for me, and mostly because I got the answer through fasting and prayer."

She feels her LDS background has taught her many valuable lessons, including gratitude and humility.

"I take it very seriously, my testimony, my purpose," Michelle said. "I want to keep learning how to strengthen it, how to share it, and I hope to do it tons in college."