Miss OSU 2006 receives title, scholarship
The emcee builds suspense before announcing the winner to the audience and the 10 women on stage. No one speaks a word as the tension builds, and each second takes longer than the one before it. Finally, the moment everyone has been waiting for arrives.
Margaret Edwards, a nutritional sciences junior, was crowned as Miss Oklahoma State University for 2007 at the Miss OSU Scholarship Pageant on Thursday night.
The Miss OSU Scholarship Pageant awarded $2500 to the winning contestants.
The winner received a $1000 scholarship and the rest of the money was spread out to the four runners-up.
The OSU Campus Life special events office sponsored the pageant.
“Miss OSU is affiliated with the Miss Oklahoma and Miss America pageants,” Joe Ray, special events coordinator, said. “This is a preliminary to the Miss Oklahoma Pageant, which is held in June.
“The qualifications for the pageant are the same for Miss America. They must be between 18 and 24 years old, they have to be single, and for Miss OSU, our local qualification is that they have to be an enrolled OSU student either here or at one of our regional campuses.”
The Miss OSU/Stillwater Pageant dates back to the 1950s.
About five years ago, the Stillwater designation was dropped, and now only students enrolled at OSU may participate.
The contestants compete in five different categories; each are worth a percentage of their score.
An interview conducted prior to the show is worth 25 percent, the talent portion is worth 35 percent, fitness in a swimsuit is worth 15 percent, evening wear is worth 20 percent and an on-stage question is worth five percent.
Miss Oklahoma Laura Nelson was the emcee for the pageant. She will compete for Miss America in January.
Miss OSU’s duties include representing the university in parades, making television appearances and speaking to groups within the community.
“Each of the women has an issue platform that they care about,” Ray said. “They go out and talk to groups quite a bit in conjunction with that.”
Lori Allen, the former Miss OSU, spoke to children about nutrition and talked to adults about childhood obesity.
Allen graduated from OSU with an undergraduate degree in political science and a master’s degree in health care administration. She was a member of the OSU basketball team and now attends law school at Oklahoma City University.
“The past year was full of great opportunities to speak to kids and learn a lot about myself and meet some really neat people,” Allen said.
“This is one of the most exciting and fun experiences that I’ve had, and I know that the next girl will have a fantastic time and really learn a lot about herself.”
Like Allen, who competed in the Miss Oklahoma Pageant this past June, Edwards will represent OSU in the 2007 Miss Oklahoma Pageant.
Megan Roberts, a journalism and broadcasting sophomore, was fourth runner-up at the pageant, and she said it was not only a good scholarship opportunity but also a great experience.
“The girls are so nice, and although we don’t show our goofy side during the pageant, during practices and rehearsals we got to be goofy and we had a lot of fun,” Roberts said.
