Congratulations - The new Miss High School and Collegiate America

On Saturday, March 10th two new national titleholders entered the very select group.  Congratulations to the new 2012 titleholders, Miss Collegiate America, Haley O' Brien & Miss High School America, Bianca Vierra.

Haley, the former Miss Minnesota Collegiate, was also Miss Minnesota Teen USA 2010.

Haley is crowned by Shannon Folsom,  Miss Collegiate America 2011

Haley,  Miss Minnesota Teen USA 2010

Bianca Vierra, ironically came to the pageant as Miss Teenage California  2011, not Miss California High.  However she arrived, I am pleased by the things I've read about this lovely brunette.  

According to the Miss Teenage California website, Bianca is a Sophomore at James Logan High School. She stands 5'8'' tall with brown hair and brown eyes, and is an honors student, Interact Club member, Volunteer coach for the Special Olympics, and has performed as a classical ballerina in the Nutcracker and Cinderella.

Here's to a great year ladies!

Breaking news - The 2013 High School and Collegiate America pageants will be held in Orlando, Florida - that's right Home to Disney World in next August!!!!!

Women's History Month Pageant Fact

A pageant was held in Atlantic City, N.J. in September 1920 as a way to keep tourists in Atlantic City after the Labor Day weekend.   

 

The following year, newspaper sales were hurting due to the advent of radio, so to increase business, newspapers decided to select representatives from their respective cities (from among their readers) and send the winners to Atlantic City as special guests of the Second Annual Atlantic City Pageant. 

 

Their arrival was heralded in the press, and thus a contest was quickly designed to select one contestant from the pool of regional winners. Eventually, the winning contestant became known as "Miss America".

 

Miss America 1921, Margaret Gorman, was from the District of Columbia who was a student at Western High School.  She is the only Miss America to receive a crown at the conclusion of her year.

She remained a life-long resident of Washington D.C. but enjoyed traveling as a favorite hobby.  She passed away in early October 1995 at age 90.

Read more about Miss America 1921 - http://www.missamerica.org/our-miss-americas/1920/1921.aspx 

Source: Official Miss America web site

Platform - Practice What You Preach

Platform ------ the dreaded word!  Thankfully, not all pageants require you to have a platform or cause to support.  However, when you do decide to promote or support a platform, the key is to practice what you preach! 

There is nothing worse that a pageant titleholder who says she's a spokesperson for this or ambassador for that, yet can't tell you anything about a national organization that supports the goal or any statistics or facts about a groups mission.  That's why I was very pleased to see these photographs of Miss International 2011 Ciji Dodds at the Library of Congress this past Presidents' Day, truly supporting her platform of Literacy by reading to children!

Oddly enough, there is even one of her flipping through the ancient......"card catalog".

Just remember - Platforms and Causes - go hard or go home!!!

America's Miss DC

Congratulations to Sarah Hillware, the new America's Miss District of Columbia

She is a junior at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs where she studies global public health.  After completing her Bachelor of Arts degree in 2013,  she will pursue both a Master of Public Health and a medical degree. She hosts an online radio show every Wednesday evening, highlighting local and global community efforts, entitled The Sarah Hillware Show.

Ambitious, passionate, intelligent and kind are some words that can be used to describe this year’s America’s Miss District of Columbia 2012, Sarah Hillware.

And in other news.....

Happy New Year folks!

I hope my silence on the M.A.O pageant speaks volumes about how I feel about THAT production!  After the wonderful event, in which Caressa Cameron joined the likes of my favorite Miss America - Vanessa Williams (1984) as well as the equally shocking, yet fun, event which brought us the youngest Miss America ever crowned - Teresa Scanlon, the powers that be sought fit to bring us THAT.

Have we not seen a resurgence in this country over the past twelve months about the DANGERS and traumatizing effects of bullying!?  What does the Miss America Organization go and do but BULLY some of the most talented, intelligent and charismatic young women in the country.  To say I was disappointed in their tactics would be an understatement.  On top of the fact that the WORLD knows Miss Florida should have been in the top 5, the sheer cruelty with which they treated those young women will not soon be forgotten.

What's done is done but I sure hope that all of my true pageant purists and fans write everyone they can so we don't have to witness this horror and injustice next year!

And in other news, before heading out to my MAO watch party with my fellow directors and "former" pageant girls, I had the pleasure to accompany some beautiful young women from the International, Black America and Black USA system to "Black Oppulence" - A VIP gifting suite which preceded the glamorous BET Honors taping in Washington.  The event was hosted by BET's 106 & Park Host Rosci Diaz and Minnesota Viking Visanthe Shiancoe  Enjoy the pics!

 Miss International 2011 Ciji Dodds, and BET's 106 & Park Host Rosci Diaz. 

 Miss International hits the red carpet

 Miss Black Washington USA 2012,  BET's 106 & Park Host Rosci Diaz and 

Miss Black America Baltimore 2012, Alexandra Morton

 

 Miss Black America Baltimore 2012 hits the red carpet