Miss America Org.

“Miss America is a not-for-profit organization that has maintained a tradition for many decades of empowering American women to achieve their personal and professional goals, while providing a forum to express their opinions, talent and intelligence…The Miss America program exist to provide personal and professional opportunities for young women and to promote their voices in culture, politics and the community.”

Within the Miss America Organization, there are three different levels, local, state, and national. In order to compete, Miss contestants must be between the ages of 17-24. In the local level there are what is called a “closed” and an “open.” A closed means the contestant has to either live, work, or go to school in the area in order to compete and an open means any girl in the state of California may compete. Once a local title is won, the girl goes on to compete at the state level, so, in my case, Miss California! You have probably gotten the pattern by now, Miss California, and the winners from every other state go on to compete in Miss America. That young woman, as well as each state representative, then travels the world and becomes an ambassador and a spokeswomen for various current topics and sponsors of the organization.

Halloween Carnival as Miss Covina 2010

Kati and Joe! E.D.s for Miss S.D./Miss So.Cal.Reg.

Karen, my current Executive Director for Miss Gavilan Hills!

Katrina and Christina, Executive directors while I was Miss Covina 2010!

Each state has a different number of local pageants depending on how many volunteers want to put forth their time. That’s right, I said volunteer! Every person involved in the Miss America Organization at local level and majority at the state level are volunteers, wanting to help better women’s lives by asking for nothing in return. Each pageant has what's called an Executive Director who is the personal support system & so much more for the title holder throughout her reign.

 Competition
There are five phases of competition, talent (35%), interview(25%), evening wear(20%), physical fitness(15%) and on-stage question(5%). 

The Hat

The crown itself is a symbol that sets Miss America apart from other pageant programs. There are four points of the crown, which represent Style, Service, Scholarship and Success. Whether a contestant is representing the Organization as Miss Gavilan Hills or Miss California, that young woman is expected to embody the four points of the Miss America crown in her life.

Scholarship
What a lot of people don’t know is, Miss America is the leading source of scholarship for young women in the world! This organization makes millions of dollars in scholarship money available every year to young women who have a passion for helping others and serving in their communities, a drive to further their education while striving to be a classy well-dressed lady in our society, and, all in all, young women who want nothing but the best for themselves and yearn for being successful in every aspect of their lives.

Team Sad Diego, 2011 <3