PRELIMINARY PAGEANT NEWS!

» MISS PALM BEACH COUNTY/GPA FASHION LUNCHEON THIS SUNDAY: Join the delegates competing in the Miss Palm Beach USA Pageant as they put their best foot forward for a special paws! Tickets are now available for the Greyhound Pets of America / Miss Palm Beach County USA Pageants Luncheon and Fashion Show - Sunday, January 30 - noon to 3 pm at the Harriet Theatre in CityPlace West Palm Beach. Come enjoy the show -- also featuring TOM Can't Stop -- the area's premier party (8 piece) band!!! Get your raffle and admission tickets today!!! Raffle prizes include a $250 Jamis Ranger SX Mountain Bike -- a TV set -- a DVD player and MANY more items. Raffle tickets are $5 each -- 5 tickets for $20.

Admission tickets are $25 if purchased in advance and $30 at the door. To get your own personal tickets send check payable to: Greyhound Pets of America, 226 SE First Avenue, Boynton Beach FL 33435.

Teen USA has been extended until January 31. There are a limited number of spots left in this pageant, which has been capped at 14 Miss Delegates and 14 Teen Delegates. It's a perfect opportunity to win your position at the Miss Florida USA or Miss Florida Teen USA competition this year! For complete information, check out www.MissGainesvilleUSA.com (Click on Gainesville) or call 850-321-3688.

» Emerald Coast Orientation Feb. 12, 2005!
The Miss Emerald Coast USA 2005 orientation session will be held Feb. 12, 2005, at the beautiful Legacy by the Sea Resort, the official hotel of Miss Emerald Coast USA & Miss Emerald Coast Teen USA. The Legacy is located at 15405 Front Beach Road on Panama City Beach, and our orientation will take place from 2:30-5:30 PM in the conference room. Activities for the day include swimsuit fittings, photo shoots and pre-taping segments for the March 20 television show. If you plan to attend orientation, please RSVP to amanda@leadingladymagazine.com. See you there! Final registration deadline for Miss Emerald Coast USA is March 5. For more information, check out www.MissEmeraldCoastUSA.com or call 850-321-3688.

» Miss Naples USA Changes

At press we were informed of the cancellation of the current directorship for the Miss Naples USA Pageant. We are currently arranging new direction from what should be one of the strongest pageants in the system. Look for some very exciting announcements in the near future. But for the immediate future the February 19^th date for the pageant will be changed. Keep tuned to www.MissFloridaUSA.com for more information on this preliminary.

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STATE PAGEANT ELIGIBILITY STATS

Miss Florida USA 2006

Delegates Entered: 14

Delegates Eligible: 52

Miss Florida Teen USA

Delegates Entered: 13

Delegates Eligible: 34

Every week more delegates become eligible to compete at state.

The season started with qualifiers from the past year. All of each pageants top15 qualify

along with Miss Amity & Miss Photogenic. Each preliminary pageant qualifies delegates

as “at large” status with their finalist, amity, photogenic and peoples choice awards.

Next Pageant Weekend: February 5th – Miss Gainesville USA & February 6^th Miss Citrus Teen USA!

THE ROAD TO MISS USA

Shandi Finnessey Interview by Chet Cooper; Part Two

Reprinted From Ability Magazine
When 26-year-old Shandi Finnessey put on the $200,000 diamond and pearl Mikimoto crown to become Miss USA, she also put on the role of ambassador, with an invaluable opportunity to touch the lives of people around the world. The former Miss Missouri has visited the local heroes of New York City’s police and fire departments and traveled overseas to provide a morale boost to troops stationed far from home. She has used her persona to raise funds for charities ranging from the American Cancer Society to Derek Jeter’s Turn 2 Foundation (which helps at-risk kids choose healthier lifestyles). She has spent afternoons reading to elementary school children as well as visiting soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

With a background as a professional model, Shandi has graced runways, billboards, print media and television commercials. In her spare time she paints, knits, plays both the violin and piano masterfully, and practices yoga and meditation. She has even gone bungee jumping to conquer her fear of heights. An honors graduate from Lindenwood University in Missouri, Shandi completed her Bachelor of Science in psychology in just three and a half years. In 2002 she authored a children’s book, The Furrtails, which helps children appreciate individuality and understand their peers who have disabilities.|

Recently Shandi sat down with ABILITY Magazine’s Chet Cooper to discuss her year as Miss USA; the growing pains she endured to get there; and her role as national spokesperson for breast and ovarian cancer education, research and legislation (the official causes of the Miss USA pageant). This is the second of a two part interview, we pick up the article in mid conversation.

CC: You wrote your undergraduate paper on androgyny [having both masculine and feminine characteristics]. What led you to that subject?

SF: I had the hypothesis that the more feminine in appearance a woman is, the more likely she is to receive assistance or help. I formulated this hypothesis because I looked much different in high school from how you see me now. I had a mullet, tinted glasses, acne and braces, and I was teased a lot. The teasing was so severe that I ended up transferring from a public school to a private high school.

CC: You could have changed the mullet, but the other things…

SF: (laughs) I did have to wait for the mullet to grow out, and that takes a little time!

CC: You mean you actually transferred because the school was so tough socially for you?

SF: It was difficult to focus on my studies. When you go to school and you worry about who is going to tease you and who is going to try to beat you up and things like that, it becomes difficult to focus. It was my decision; I went to my parents and said, “I’m not getting the education that I think I need. I need to move into a smaller school.” I actually moved to an all-girls school.

CC: A mullet-friendly school?

SF: (laughs) Yes, although I was teased there too. Being around the same people and seeing how I am treated so differently now—just because the contacts went in, the hair grew out, I put some Retin-A on and the braces came off—that was how I came up with the hypothesis that the more feminine in appearance a woman is, the more likely she is to receive assistance. I did a study four or five years back to test it, and when the results proved significant it was published in the SEPA Journal.

CC: How did you test your hypothesis?

SF: We took the same group of people and had them in three conditions: extremely feminine, extremely masculine and then androgynous. It was the exact same person, just different role-playing. The performers didn’t just dress differently, but also changed a few of their mannerisms. The difference in how they were treated was so drastic. We’ve always heard that people tend to judge a book by its cover, but my study was able to demonstrate it, and to [zero in on androgynous appearance as a factor, because using the same subjects eliminated other causes.]

CC: It would be interesting to replicate the study, but focus on the progression of age to see where the shift in attitudes begins to occur. Young children, as with Ryan Brems, often don’t see the differences, but at some point society begins to instill that negative awareness of being different.

SF: That’s a good point—that’s why I think it’s important to get the exposure out there to children. If they’re exposed to different situations, different people and different environments, then I think they’re more accepting in the long run. But if you keep them secluded in their own sheltered worlds, and then one day they are in an environment where they’re around something that is different from them, they’re not going to know how to respond or react. That’s how I developed this passion. During my undergraduate studies I was required to do an internship. They had a whole list of different places I could choose from, but...

CC: Wasn’t ABILITY listed?

SF: No… (laughing) Only one of the places paid any kind of stipend, and I was thinking, “If I’m working thirty hours a week, I’m getting paid.” My internship was with an assisted living program working with people with mental retardation and Down syndrome. I came into the situation thinking, “This will be easy, I’m getting paid. It’s like any other job.” Never did I imagine that I’d be uncomfortable.

CC: Why were you uncomfortable?

SF: When I first met a young woman I would be working with for the year, Amy, who was legally blind and had mild mental retardation, I put my hand out to shake hers and she just looked at me. I realized, “Wow. I’m in an uncomfortable situation. I’ve never been here before.” Throughout the course of the year, we became good friends. I helped her begin her own business recycling cans. She was so proud of herself! But what I gained from her was huge. I saw her love of life. She was free of envy and jealousy, and she was so true to her emotions.

CC: What other projects or events did you work on during your internship?

SF: I started developing little socializing events such as Halloween parties and things like that. I would bring Amy and a number of other people with intellectual disabilities, and then see how other people—like my friends—who had never been in an environment with someone with a mental disability were taken aback and didn’t know how they should act. I realized that whenever we go outside of the box that we know, we get scared and don’t know how we should behave. So if we start at a young age with exposure, we can change that.

CC: You realize that’s what we’re doing right now, and it’s one of the purposes of ABILITY Magazine.

SF: Yes!

Magazine article and picture courtesy of
Ability Magazine
(http://abilitymagazine.com/current.html)