Descriptive Essay Pageant

After watching Deshauna Barber win the Miss USA 2016 title I was inspired to enter in pageantry myself. I support the ambition and confidence that Miss Washington Teen instills in girls, and I can only dream of becoming apart of it. And because i believe, i must work for everything; i searched for a pageant online to enter, and this is the best fit for

In the story, “How I Lost the Junior Miss Pageant” by Cindy Bosley, the narrator tells her story about how she lost the Junior Miss Pageant. She takes us on a journey about how she watched pageants and rated the females as if she was the judge and how she got into the pageant and practiced. She told us about her and her mother’s struggles with money, men and ultimately how she lost the pageant. She went even further after the pageant was over, to tell the reader how disappointed her mother was because she did not win and her mother’s ultimate sorrow, her loneliness. This descriptive narrative allowed me to understand the text's main point: being accepted by others.

Brooke Breedwell a previous pageant contender who loved the feeling of performing and being on stage dislikes the emotional outcome, it took on her, as she states “you know what I hate? After all these years, I’ve still got this anxiety feeling like I have to be perfect.” (Hollandsworth 495). This statement proves Hollandsworth opinion of the negative effects of being in the pageant. Making the audience feel sorry for Breedwell they would understand the purpose of this article.

Lost the Pageant But Discovers the Hidden Truth In Cindy Bosley's essay, How I Lost the Junior Miss Pageant, she reflects on a childhood memory of her experience with a beauty pageant to expose how society pressures everyone to be perfect. Bosley enters the beauty pageant after Bridget, her friend, suggests they enter the local Ottumwa Junior Miss Pageant. By entering the contest, Bosley gains the opportunity to fulfill her “mother’s secret hopes” that her daughter will win a beauty pageant (33). Two weeks before the pageant, Bosley, along with the fourteen other contestants, begin practicing their routes and sharing tips among themselves.

All questions courtesy of Houghton Mifflin's The American Pageant Guidebook; A Manual For Students, Eleventh Edition, 1998

“It doesn’t matter if you can breathe. All that matters is if you look good”. Just Googling the search term “beauty pageants coming up,” will result in 2,710,000 results appearing in 1.18 seconds. Children are the fastest-growing segment of the beauty pageant market, with annual children's competitions attracting an estimated 3 million children, mostly girls, ages six months to 16 years, who compete for crowns and cash. Infants, carried onto the stage by their mothers, are commonplace. April Brilliant, reigning Mrs. Maryland and the director of Maryland-based Mystic Pageants, says pageants give little girls a chance to "play Cinderella." However, playing ‘Cinderella’ can cause children to develop insecurities or self-hatred if they don't

"Not a single day goes by without working toward my dream of being the next Miss California USA. The first preliminary competition is less than a month away! As I compete for the title of Miss Santa Monica, I know I have so many generous supporters who have believed in me for many years. I owe everything to the people who make it possible to compete in the USA

When Heather’s mom attempted to explain the concepts of rhythm and pronunciation, and failed she thought dance class would help. She was enrolled her in ballet class in hopes (of ) that she would develop a better understanding of rhythm. Not long after joining, the love she had for ballet grew and she continued to dance until she danced herself all the way the to the Miss America competition. Heather started her career in beauty pageants in the Shelby County Junior Miss program. Although the Shelby County Junior program wasn’t considered an actual pageant it gave Heather the confidence she needed to start entering real ones. She entered many pageants and won Miss Cullman Area in 1994. After she won Miss Cullman she went on to win Miss Alabama and soon enough it was only her and Miss Virginia standing up in the finals for Miss America and it was then announced she had won. Each competition she entered helped to shape and mold the way Heather interacted the judges. “The first time I stood on the stage in Atlantic City and looked out over the empty convention about a year before I won the Miss America title, I was amazed not at its size, but at the fact that I was there. The journey to the Miss America Pageant did not begin four years ago when I first competed in a local pageant. It began when I was eighteen months old, when I lost my hearing.” -Heather Whitestone. Heather said that when her mom was told her daughter was

In the world of beauty pageants, many people find themselves entrapped in the expensiveness of the gown, the extravagance of the hairstyle, and how attractive the woman sporting all of this truly is. However, when entered into this arena at a young age, one where you are not fully developed and deep in adolescence, this presents a problem not all are aware of. Many people don’t understand the emotional stress that almost everyone that participates in pageants goes through. Women face various issues after everything has been said and done. A number of pageant contestants start at a relatively young age, some as young as infants, and grow up in this seemingly glamorous world of pageantry, from which they learn to present themselves in a

The 2016 Miss America Contest allowed fifty two women to compete for the honor of being crowned as the most tantalizingly beautiful woman in America. However, unlike previous years this pageant featured a contestant who exemplifies compassion and intelligence on and off of the stage in addition to being physically stunning. She galvanized a social movement that brought awareness to a profession within our nation that has been misinterpreted and underappreciated by the public for decades. Kelly Johnson, Miss Colorado, stood in front of millions of viewers during the televised talent portion of the contest wearing navy blue scrubs, and a stethoscope draped around her neck. Johnson waved to the cheering audience, and began her monologue with:

To be honest, participating in a beauty pageant was never where I would have pictured myself, but when my step-sister's best friend needed to recruit 10 potential delegates in order to compete internationally & friends & family learned I was recruited they displayed

I love attention, but I live in fear that someone will google me and find my glamor headshots. I still have close friends that don’t know I subjected myself to competing in the Miss Alaska’s Outstanding Teen Scholarship Pageant. When I told others in the past, it was more often than not followed by, “You? You did a pageant?” Movie cliches and stereotypes of pageants paint the exact image of what I am not. Except, I had decided pageantry was the only way to provide myself the validation any girl starting high school believes she needs. I was enthralled with the opportunity to advocate, perform, win thousands of dollars in scholarships, and most importantly, value my self-worth solely on how I looked.

Beauty pageants became popular in The United States around the 1920’s. They originated to serve as a marketing tool. Women were formally displayed like trophies because of their sexual appeal however; children were taken a step further. In “Child Beauty Pageants”, Hilary Levey Friedman points out, “Instead of a typical runway walk, child pageant modeling is a set routine, choreographed with facial expressions and spins. At many pageants a “grand supreme” title is decided based on the highest score for the entire event or for an age group, such as zero to six.” The popularity only increased over the years as it spread across the nation. Media jumped over the chance to endorse them and the fad only spiked.

Most people have seen or heard of the reality television show Toddlers and Tiaras. The show is often what people first think of when people think of pageants,in fact, when it comes to the topic of beauty pageants, most of us will readily agree that they are looked down upon. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of whether beauty pageants should be banned. Whereas some are convinced that they should be banned, others, including myself, maintain that they should be allowed, considering, they build self confidence, foster girls ambitions and help develop critical thinking.

Despite the shocked, concerned, and altogether flabbergasted look on my friends’ faces when I told them I would enter in my first pageant at fifteen years old, I stuck to my plan and competed amongst the most experienced, poised, and articulate pageant veterans in a statewide event. Even my closest friends could not understand why a shy, quiet girl like me would suddenly want to perform for hundreds of people, and honestly, this whim surprised myself as well. Whether a subdued dream from my childhood of becoming a beloved Miss America reemerged or I simply wanted to prove my confidence to my worried mom, I still do not know; nevertheless, I mustered up enough courage to conduct interviews, deliver an onstage introduction, and showcase poise