by Garrett Polter
staff writer
Clapping and cheers fill the air. The glistening of the elegant dresses and the crown atop the winner’s head while upon the stage. Tears of joy and happiness bring in the scene of a beauty pageant.
Senior Bailey Stattelman competes in beauty pageants. Recently, she won the Miss Topeka pageant. This is a relatively new experience for her.
“Back in 2011 I got a letter in the mail from the National American Miss pageant system telling me they wanted me to compete. I thought it would be a good experience, so I signed up and got in,” said Bailey.
Pageants have their benefits. They are strong resumé builders and provide scholarship opportunities.
However, it means something different to every competitor.
“For me, it’s a good confidence booster,” says Stattelman, “The feeling of being on stage strutting it out in my swimsuit, or gracefully taking control of the stage in my evening gown, it makes me feel like I could conquer the world.”
When competing for the pageant, a lot of hard work must be put into the competition, while also trying to balance a teenage girl’s life.
“Between school, work, theater, show choir, and training, it was a lot of stress. I even felt like dropping out a few times, but I continued to push myself and with the way things have turned out for me, I’m glad I did.”
The Miss Topeka pageant is a pageant in the Miss America system at the local level. From the local competition, competitors move onto the state pageant. After that they go to the national competition, and this determines the winner of Miss America.
One has to be from the northeast third of Kansas vertically to compete.
This year, there were four young women who competed for Miss Topeka, and six that competed on the Miss Capital City side of things.
Scoring is based off of a percentage system. Talent is worth 35 percent of the score, while the interview takes place takes up 25 percent. The eveningwear portion is worth 20 percent, contestants earn 15 percent of their score for the swimsuit competition, and the onstage question takes up five percent of the score.
Bailey has been a student tap, ballet, and jazz dancing, along with baton twirling and cheer, at the Beverly Bernardi Post Conservatory of Dance and Pom for quite a few years now.
Stattelman’s director, Beverly Bernardi Post, was a Miss Topeka winner herself. So she knows just what it is like for Bailey to go through this experience. Along with her team, Ms. Bernardi choreographed Bailey’s tap routine for the competition.
Bailey hopes to bring home the crown at the statewide competition this upcoming June in Pratt.