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Meeting ‘our contestants’ for Miss Kentucky
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By MARLA TONCRAY, News Editor
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Beginning Thursday, July 17, three young ladies from the Buffalo Trace Region will enter competition for the title of Miss Kentucky.
Miss Buffalo Trace Whitney Cooper, 20, of Vanceburg, Miss Bluegrass Area Christie Harnish, 19, of Maysville and Miss Fayette County Megan McKay, 19, of May's Lick will travel to Lexington Sunday to begin one of the most exciting weeks of their lives, as they join 29 other women from across the state in hopes of being crowned 2008 Miss Kentucky on Saturday, July 19. The winner moves on to the Miss America pageant in January, 2009.
For anyone who wonders if being in a beauty pageant is just about looks, think again. After interviews with all three contestants, it's clear being beautiful is only one aspect of what it takes to compete at the highest levels of the Miss America pageant circuit. It also takes dedication, vision, confidence, self-discipline and a willingness to make sacrifices to achieve your ultimate goal.
Whitney, Christie and Megan are all intelligent, well spoken, polite, goal oriented, and professional young women. Each is involved with young children in their communities, serving as mentors and role models to both boys and girls under their chosen platforms.
Contestants must also continue their education beyond high school to be eligible to compete in local and state pageants, a key element of the Miss America Organization since 1945 when Bess Myerson was the first Miss America to receive a scholarship.
Megan, Whitney and Christie are all college students, splitting their time between their studies, community service and the pageant circuit. Each girl also works a part-time job.
The Miss America Organization is one of the nation's leading achievement programs and the world's largest provider of scholarship assistance for young women. In 2007, the Miss America Organization and its state and local organizations made available more than $45 million in cash and scholarship assistance. The assistance is not just for the handful of young women who become Miss America, but is available to over 12,000 young women who compete in the state and local competitions as well.**
This week, Whitney, Christie and Megan will be among 32 women competing for more than $36,000 in cash scholarships which will be awarded, in addition to numerous prizes and in-kind scholarships to various colleges and universities. The new Miss Kentucky will speak in schools across the state promoting the Kentucky Department of Agriculture’s "No Ifs, Ands or Butts Program "educating students of all grade levels on the penalties involved with purchasing tobacco products while underage.
All three girls want to win and each is very confident if the honor of being crowned 2008 Miss Kentucky should be bestowed upon her, she will be up for the challenge of competing for Miss America. But each one also said she understands winning isn't the only thing taking place during the next seven days; each one is looking forward to the "experience" of competing at the state level and the opportunities that presents.
"Competing at this level, you have 32 girls that bring different aspects into your life," Whitney said, adding pageant competitions can also present career opportunities because of the diversity of people you meet. She said she has also overcome her fear of public speaking through her pageant interviews and on-stage questions.
"I'm just trying to soak it all in and gain some experience from it," Christie said. "It's awesome just to be going."
Christie's appearance in the pageant has been a surprise for herself and her family. She just learned in May she would be competing after both the winner and first runner-up of the Miss Bluegrass Area pageant couldn't attend this year's Miss Kentucky pageant. This passed the crown of Miss Bluegrass Area to Christie as second runner-up.
"I had nothing ready," Christie said with a laugh as she talked about getting her talent piece together and purchasing her wardrobe.
Unlike Christie and Whitney, Megan is competing for the title of Miss Kentucky for a second time. Her first appearance was in 2007.
"Last year I was in it to get the experience," Megan said, adding people advised her she had the potential to win, which gave her encouragement to continue on.
"I want those people to see that (this year)," Megan said. "I feel like I've prepared a lot more. I'm in it to be Miss Kentucky, to fill the role and be a positive role model."
With good natured prodding and an absolute promise it would be off the record, I asked each girl for a description of her evening gown. With this question, the tone of their voices changed and each giggled with delight as they began to describe their gown, a clear indication the evening gown competition is a highlight and favorite of the pageant.
From their descriptions, each will be a vision of beauty as they walk the stage before the judges and audience.
"Your gown is what's supposed to make you feel wonderful," Whitney said after describing her gown.
As each interview came to a close, Christie, Megan and Whitney were asked the same question.
"What do your parents think of all this?" and the answer without hesitation was, "They're proud of me."
To the letter, each girl said the same thing about their father: he stays pretty quite about things, keeps a low profile, and "My dad's very proud of me."
And then they talked about their mothers role in achieving their dreams.
"My mom said, "If you want to be Miss America, we can get out there and do this,'" Christie said.
"Mom is pushy on everything I need her to be. She's very good at pushing me and preparing me," Whitney said.
"My mom is my biggest supporter... my mom and I have figured this out together," Megan said. "She's my role model."
The 2008 Miss Kentucky Pageant will be held at the Singletary Center for the Arts on the campus of the University of Kentucky in Lexington. Preliminary competitions will be held on Thursday, July 17 and Friday, July 18 starting at 7 p.m. Saturday, July 19, beginning at 7:30 p.m. is the final night of competition culminating with the crowning of the new Miss Kentucky.
Tickets for the preliminaries and final competition are available by calling the Singletary Center Box Office at 859-257-4929. Preliminary night tickets are $25 per night and tickets for the final night are $40.
**Information about the Miss America Organization obtained from its Web site http://www.missamerica.org. |
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Reader Comments
Comments are limited to 200 words or less.
Diana Welte wrote on Jul 12, 2008 6:44 PM: " These are three very accomplished, intellegent and personable young women. All three are good students, have a great sense of humour and are genuinely the nicest people you'd ever want to meet. Our area should be quite proud of each and every one of them. They represent us well.
Good luck, Ladies! "
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