They're Not Just Pretty Faces

SO, every once in awhile I actually have a topic that I'm serious & or passionate about. It doesn't really happen too often, but on ocassion it does, and THIS would be one of those topics.

Last year I started volunteering for Miss USA state preliminary pageants...and for those of you who may be confused....Miss USA is the one owned by Donald Trump and seen on NBC and the one that can ultimately lead to Miss Universe. But anyway..



I got hooked up with the gig through this board I serve on for our regional NACA meetings; I'm the student rep and the woman who is our associate rep, also owns a company that produces these pageants. Welll, during our summer meeting 2 summers ago, we were chatting and I mentioned I wanted to do event planning when I grow up and she asked me to help her with pageants and bla bla bla...HERE I AM.

I jumped into this experience expecting what most people think; big boobs, big hair, big ATTITUDES and lots of dresses and swimsuits. WELL, after my first pageant last fall my preception COMPLETELY changed.

These girls are NOT the BiTcHy,self engrossed,make up caked women, so many of us think.

These girls are Confident, motivated, smart young women who want to CHANGE the world, and I guarantee you that most will.

While volunteering at the Miss Minnesota USA pageant I met a girl who CLIMBED Mt. Kilamanjaro and raised $6,000 to fight AIDS, @ Miss Minnesota USA I met a girl who wrote a book EmPowErinG young women, I met another who's danced world wide and yet another who created a company that works with young women to give them CONFIDENCE and poise. & This is just in 1 state.

While the movie "Miss Congeniality" attempts to make fun of pageants and admittedly gets some things head on, it also got something else right....... these girls really do want world peace.

They're fighting to do something PoSiTiVe, not only for themselves, but for the people around them.

YES! Occasionally you find the beauty queen who likes to think she walks on a red carpet and is God's Gift to the world, but 90% of the time, these girls are FuN, energetic, oUtGoInG, and the sweetest things ever.

These girls are smart; most of them have 4.0s, studying everything ranging from Journalism and Communications to Spanish and Biology.

Some critics may complain about the swimsuit competition. Claiming that pageants cause girls to become anorexic and promote unhealty eating behaviors. WRONG! I'm not going to deny that some girls do go down the wrong path and skip their meals or pray to the procelin gods after eating. But most don't. These girls learn how to eat healthy, how to work out, stay in shape and get that healthy well toned body. Something a majority of us are TOO LAZY, to work on! The judges don't want to see walking ribcages onstage, trust me.

I will admit that is unfortunate that in the end, what is going really help the get the girl the crown is how pretty she is, and that it's ironic of sorts that while these girls are doing all these gr8 things and working their tails off, in the end it comes down to her face. I would like to point something out before anyone gets too EnRaGEd at this and tries to fight againt the pageant system.

Whoever wins the title of Miss USA is going to spend the following year traveling all over the COUNTRY promoting and working with all sorts of charities and causes, and who is the general American public going to listen to? Who is REALLY going to get peoples attention and get them 2 lend a hand? The beautiful sPUnKy brunette that stands OUT in the crowd. OR the short squat girl who looks like everyone else.

It sounds bitchy and it sounds blunt and it even sounds a little too simplified. BUT lets get real, it's the truth. Society likes pretty people and Miss USA uses that to do some good!!!

So next time, before you crack a joke or yell at the tv when you see that the Miss USA pageant is coming up, don't mock. Remember that these girls have worked so so sooooo hard to get to that level.!!And that really, they're just doing their BEST to make a difference,for themselves and for the world.