Fayetteville High student wins state pageant
Posted on Friday, March 28, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/News/63573/
Maggie Day might be a breath of fresh air in an otherwise stagnant local program.
The 17-year-old Fayetteville High School senior is going to represent Arkansas in America’s Junior Miss program in June. She will be the first candidate sent from an official Washington County Junior Miss program in quite some time, according to program co-chair Lois Korbe.
“ There has not been a local program here in Northwest Arkansas for as long as I can remember, ” Korbe said.
The program in Northwest Arkansas combines Benton and Washington counties. Korbe said she doesn’t remember the last time either county had an official program, but this year it sent Day for Washington County and Bentonville’s Jordan Kaufman. Day was the named Arkansas Junior Miss on Saturday at the state competition in Searcy. Kaufman claimed the third runnerup title.
“ It’s one of the oldest scholarship programs around. It was designed to reward and support girls who want to go on to college, ” Korbe said of the program.
According to the national group’s Web site, the Junior Miss program was founded in 1958 and is headquartered in Mobile, Ala. More than 700, 000 teens from across the nation have participated in Junior Miss programs at the local, state, and national levels. In addition to cash scholarships, Junior Miss participants are eligible for college-granted scholarships from nearly 200 colleges and universities.
Korbe said in the 50-year history of the program, Arkansas has seen three winners.
“ Which is impressive because some states haven’t seen any, ” she said.
The last representative from Arkansas was in the 1970 s, she said.
Korbe said when organizers started the local program this year, they had 10 girls set to compete but eight of them dropped out, leaving Day and Kaufman.
Day said she hopes her trip to the national contest will bring some attention to the local program.
“ We’re hoping to build it back up, ” she said.
She’s pretty optimistic not just about rebuilding the local program but about competing nationally. She said her time at the state event taught her a few things. She learned how to handle three days of grueling rehearsals while keeping her energy at a high level, while also remembering what it means to be a leader. She and the other contestants visited a school for the mentally handicapped during their time in Searcy. They spent time with the students and performing their talents. Day played “ Fountain in the Rain” by William Gillock on the piano.
“ I think it really moved all of us, ” she said of the school visit.
Day became interested in the America’s Junior Miss program when she was growing up in Mississippi. She kept her grades up, worked on her talent and tried her first pageant when she was a junior in high school, the Miss Dogwood Outstanding Teen program in Siloam Springs. She snagged the first runner-up spot, so she decided to try her hand at the Junior Miss program. The rest is history.
Day will be competing nationally on June 28 for a share of more than $ 100, 000 in scholarship money. Korbe said last year’s winner walked away with more than $ 70, 000 in awards.
“ It makes a big difference for girls who want to go to Harvard or Stanford, ” Korbe said.
She said that over the next couple of months the program will be visiting schools and introducing junior girls to the America’s Junior Miss program.
“ It takes a lot to compete, so they’ve got to plan ahead, ” she said. “ This year we got the first little inklings of it going, but next year we hope to have more. ”