She's got her bags packed for the pageant

North Platte Telegraph (NE),She's got her bags packed for the pageant, 10 Aug 2005

... daughter of Doug and Kayla States, will be accompanied to the pageant by her mother; sisters, Janessa, 13 and Jenae, 11; grandmothers, Carol Scroggins and Jean ...
She's got her bags packed for the pageant
By: Sharron Hollen, The North Platte Telegraph
08/10/2005

Jessica States has her six bags packed and only a few details left to attend to before leaving Friday for Orlando, Fla. and the Miss America's Outstanding Teen Pageant.

States earned the Miss Nebraska Outstanding Teen title during the Miss Nebraska pageant held in June in North Platte. The teen competition is affiliated with the Miss America organization.
As States has packed and finished details, she has mentally rehearsed and reviewed her platform subject, "Encouraging Youth to Volunteer Through Community Service."
While States made her decision to enter the state competition only a month before it was held, and while there were many areas of uncertainty in doing so, she was never uncertain about what she would support and promote in her platform.
She defines herself as a "big time" volunteer. At 17, she has already been a continuing volunteer for some community services for more than a half dozen years.
She was 11 when she first volunteered to make and decorate luminarias for the Community Playhouse Guild's Christmas Carousel Tour of Homes. She has moved on to be a guild usher and to assist at intermission receptions for playhouse productions.
In the last four years she has volunteered more than 300 hours at the Children's Museum and has, since she was in sixth grade, helped coach youth league volleyball and basketball. She recently received the North Platte Nebraska Community Improvement Program Award for youth volunteer work.
"I believe that youth can make a difference in the community when they volunteer. Volunteering is a way to learn more about the community and expand your interests and talents. It opens the way to new ideas. As you volunteer and give, you get a lot of satisfaction in return," said States.
The subject of her platform and interviews about it and other general subjects will make up 30 percent of the scoring for the Miss America's Outstanding Teen Pageant.
Among the items in those six bags States has packed are the gowns and matching accessories for the evening wear and talent competitions, along with gowns for the walk-on introductions and pageant opening show.
States will perform the vocal solo, "I Am What I Am'' from the Broadway musical Le Cage. At North Platte High School, where States will be a senior next year, she performs in the swing choir and with the varsity chorus.
The talent competition will comprise another 30 percent of the contest scoring.
States will additionally compete in casual wear and in a fitness routine in active wear provided by the pageant.

States, the daughter of Doug and Kayla States, will be accompanied to the pageant by her mother; sisters, Janessa, 13 and Jenae, 11; grandmothers, Carol Scroggins and Jean States; family friend, Molly O'Holleran; and Kris Livingston, director for the Miss Nebraska Outstanding Teen Pageant.

States has already earned a $1,000 scholarship for her win in the Nebraska competition. There will be $150,000 in scholarships awarded at the national pageant with the winner receiving a $30,000 scholarship.

The Miss America's Outstanding Teen Pageant will be a new experience for States. Calming her nervousness a bit is the knowledge that it is also a new experience for the Miss America Organization that is staging the Outstanding Teen Pageant for the first time.

Those things being equal, about the only concern remaining will be that the six bags, so carefully packed, arrive in Orlando at the same time that Nebraska's Miss Outstanding Teen arrives.

©North Platte Telegraph 2006