When I was 18 years old I entered my first official pageant. I had hopes of obtaining a 1000 dollar scholarship and potentially more if I could compete at the state level. Some of my friends had previously competed in the actual pageant I was planning to take part in. Although the pageant was not big there were 11 other participants. Most of the girls I knew because they were in my grade of school, or because I showed animals against them at the county fair. This was significant because the pageant we were competing in was for the Lawrence County Fair Queen Contest.
When I entered the contest it was my tenth and final year to participate in showing my animals against my friends at the local county fair. This was my main concern because 4-H had been a major part of my life and helped to make me a more responsible person. My friend, Natasha felt that I should be focusing on trying to win the scholarship money for college. Natasha is around five years older than me and had actually been a fair queen. The scholarship money had helped her pay for college and lessened her load of student loans.
The week of the competition came and we compromised. I did not completely give training my animals up. I did allow for more time to practice “walking.” For three days I would meet Natasha after we were both done with work. She would watch me walk in my heels, practice my speech, and answer questions. Natasha was a very difficult mentor, we tended to butt heads on how much walking practice I needed, I felt that I could walk in the heels so there was no need for me to keep doing it. Natasha made me practice in short heels, medium heels, and the tallest heels she could find. When she was done with that it was “dress rehearsal” I had to try on all the different outfits. Natasha picked out the outfits that she felt were the most professional and pageant-like. After Natasha picked the outfits out she wanted to watch me walk in the heels again. I went from low, medium, to high yet again. Natasha picked the heels she felt looked best for professional, semi-formal, and formal wear.
I also had many physical tasks that needed to be completed this week. My hideous “farmer tan” had to be evened out. Artificial nails looked much better on my hands than my natural nails that were broken and snagged. I had my hair trimmed to frame my face to make it look more professional. The most significant change that I had to endure was the diet of low carbohydrate and fat intake compared to a high vegetable intake.
The day of the pageant finally arrived. I was aware that the day would be hectic, long, and stressful. However, I feel that I was completely unprepared for the day at hand. The previous work from the week before made me feel that I was prepared and that the pageant would be an organized situation that was easy to maneuver. The day that happened was far from that! I woke up early went to Natasha’s house where she spent an hour straightening my hair and doing my makeup. I went to my interview, palms sweaty from nerves, and felt that I connected to the three judges well. After the interview Natasha met me to curl my hair and redo my makeup for my semi-formal and formal wear. I thought that she would just tell me how good I was doing. Instead I was getting drilled on what questions they asked and how I responded to them. Natasha commented that “unfortunately I am not good at making answers up because the true answers were on my face.” She reassured me that this “could be a good thing, it makes you trustworthy.”
In semi-formal wear there was a dance number that was performed and according to Natasha as well as the coordinators “you MUST smile the entire time that you are on stage in front of the audience and judges.” There was a wardrobe change into formal wear and an onstage question was asked for the entire audience to hear. After all participants answered their questions they exited stage and then reappeared as a group. The judges had to have time to deliberate on the winners so we all went backstage. Around 15 minutes later they had the results. All participants stood back on stage while the winners were announced. Luckily I did win, Miss Congeniality, although it was not the $1000 but it was a $350 scholarship. I will never forget how proud I was to actually place after all of the work I had put into the competition.
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