Miss Florida USA Faces

Contestants hire coaches to train them in walking, talking, standing and dressing. They practice constantly. They skip bathroom breaks, glaze their teeth with Vaseline, spray adhesive on their buttocks and pray that their swimsuits don't ride up in front of the audience - which includes their families, friends and eagle-eyed judges.

Winning a pageant title, said Lakeland's Miss USA pageant director Brigittia Long, is like winning a Heisman trophy - it takes perseverance and dedication to achieve.

Three pageant contestants from Polk County accomplished that feat Saturday afternoon in the local Miss USA pageant. Lynsey Coburn won the title of Miss Polk County USA; Alexandra Watkins, Miss Lakeland USA; and Christie Nowels, 15, Miss Lakeland Teen USA.

The pageant was in the Lake Hollingsworth Room at The Lakeland Center. On stage, the contestants strutted with confidence. Backstage, the hard work wore through as contestants changed frantically into casual outfits, swimsuits and evening wear.

"You OK?" asked volunteer Ashley Watkins, Alexandra Watkins' sister, as contestant No. 10 got in line for the swimwear segment. The contestant shrugged, casting critical eyes at her reflection. "I just don't like the way I look," she said, plucking the strap of her neon pink bikini. Watkins grabbed her shoulders: "You look beautiful!"

Beauty is part of the pageant, Long said, but like many contestants echoed, it is more than that. Like football and baseball for many men, pageants are one way for women to receive scholarships and opportunities, Long said. Winners of state and national competitions win thousands of dollars in scholarship money. They accept responsibilities such as endorsements and public speaking. Potential employers know that an applicant with a pageant title understands dedication and hard work, Long said.

In sports, players dedicate themselves to the game. They win some, they lose some, but they keep playing. It is the same in pageantry, Long said.

Despite disappointments, contestants keep going. Coburn, one of Saturday's winners, competed in three other pageants before winning the Polk County title. Next weekend, four losing contestants will travel to Cape Coral to compete in the pageant there.

Coburn and Alexandra Watkins will travel to Hollywood, Fla., in July to compete alongside 80 pageant winners from across the state. Nowels will head to the state Miss Florida Teen USA competition in October. "It involves a lot of discipline. And constant, constant practice," Long said. "This is a way that a young lady can get recognized. It is like her Heisman trophy."

The South Florida pageant in our four corners Super Saturday took place at the historic Dryfoos Performing Arts School in the heart of West Palm Beach. Even with a monsoon outside a nice turnout from our South Florida USA friends made it one fun night of friendship and pageantry. For the first time under the direction of Trudy Williams this pageant staple was the first pageant this season in Palm Beach County that didn’t require police reports!

Our Miss Latina friends border Ms. Gallego, Ms.Sanjurjo, Ms. Saks during the post pageant photo frenzy.

Ms. Hernandez, Ms. Gallego and Miss Callahan were the evening’s hostesses (left)

In the audience with two thirds of Team Miami Tropics with new pageant buddy Anh Do (left)

Of course being the “friendly” pageant you know it was all smiles as the camera came out to capture our traveling titleholders and other friends who braved the inclement conditions. Next up on “The Road to Hollywood’ we head to the West Coast for the first ever Miss Cape Coral USA & Teen USA Pageants. It’s the final pageant of the year in Lee County and we can’t wait as we put the flag down in Miss USA Country! See everyone on Sunday.

The 21 contestants of the Miss Cape Coral USA pageant enjoyed a pre-pageant luncheon at The Joint at Cape Harbour this past Saturday. The rainy day did not stop the young ladies from enjoying million dollar yachts and fun pageant times. On hand to welcome the girls was Miss Florida Teen USA-Jillian Wunderlich, Miss Fort Myers USA-Maria DeMoya, Miss Sarasota USA-Donna Snow and Miss Sarasota Teen USA-Jenna Canfield.

Twenty-three contestants will vie for the title of Miss Cape Coral in a competition at 4 p.m. Sunday at the Cape Coral Yacht Club, 5819 Driftwood Parkway. The contestants in the Teen Division are: Maicie Lynn Clark, 16; Rachel Collins, 15; Mikaela Dahl, 14; Morgan Lucas, 16; Angela Maglione, 15; May-Elise Martinsen; Danielle Pierce, 15; Lynsey Sillien, 15; Signe Ashley Thomas, 16; Kersti Cottrell, 17.

Miss Division: Genelle Cherrington, 19; Lis Chimaras, 18; Camella Rose Corcoran, 18; Marcel (Marcie) Ostrosky, 22 Amanda Shattuck, 23; Catherine Vernon, 21; Anastasia Pavlenko, 20; Jessica Woolley, 19; Benecia Toyloy, 18; Kathleen Patton, 21; Jessica Tyus, 23.

Contestants will be judged on personality, swim suit and evening gown categories. The staff of the Miss Florida USA pageant will be in attendance as well as a bevy of queens from the Miss USA system. The winners will represent the city at the Miss Florida USA and Florida Teen USA pageants.

Doors open at 3 p.m. Tickets are $20 per person and will be available at the door. For more details, call Suzi Hosfeld at 822-4661.

- Kudos to Brookell Barber (Miss Alachua County Teen USA 2009), Lucette Pierre-Lewis (Miss Marion County USA 2009), and Lauren Harmon (Miss Gainesville Teen USA 2008) who assisted with Alachua Counties Dozer Day’s event this past weekend. For the second year in a row, our titleholders had the opportunity to volunteer at this amazing event, an annual fundraiser for the Children’s Home Society. The girls spent their day assisting with the Sand Dig, where children had the opportunity to dig in over a ton of sand for lots of buried treasures! Way to get involved in spectacularly great event ladies!

- Kudos to Miss Capital City USA 2009 Vida Sheffield who was the featured speaker of the day for The Take Stock in Children Rally in Tally on the footsteps of the State Capital Tuesday afternoon. Ms. Sheffield was one of the first college scholarship recipients of the state program and is certainly one of their first success stories. Sister Queen Heather Elwell, Miss Tallahassee USA 2009 was also a part of the day as the toured the state capital lobbying for this great program. Way to lobby and work the Capital Vida and Heather!

Pageant Director Dana Klein along with her friends at The Pompano Citi Center presented a fun and informative afternoon at their second Seminar Day in anticipation of the big event April 13^th. Under a cloudy sky our Pompano delegates brought the sunshine. Featured speaker and Miss Pompano Beach Teen USA 2008 Yecinia Santibanez added a little royalty to the afternoon as everyone in North Broward County is getting excited over this event! We dropped in for a brief moment on our way to West Palm Beach so enjoy our group shot of the day.

Don’t forget there is still time to participate in this fun and very popular pageant. It’s one of only two open aired and free attendance pageants we have in the state so either join us in the audience or contact Ms. Klein at (954) 923-4343 or via email at dlklein@msn.com and we look forward to seeing everyone on the afternoon of the 13^th in Pompano.

Going online Saturday night will be the best of shots from The Miss Ormond Beach USA Pageant to be held at The Ormond Beach Performing Arts Center. We have found a great host for all of our pictures before they are formally posted here on our home page starting on Monday. Visit http://virb.com/missfloridausa! Always trying to stay ahead of the communications curve here at Miss Florida USA.

In our ongoing attempt to be everywhere on the internet we now have an active Face Book Site. We love the interaction and ability to contact our friends and keep them up to date with the latest in pageant news and pictures. Surf to www.FaceBook.com/MissFloridaUSA and say hello!

» PICTURES & STORIES WANTED!

If you enjoy reading the stories of our Miss Florida USA Family and want us to know what great things are happening either during or after you reign please email us at telair@aol.com. We love touting our sorority of outstanding Florida women. Please send us a paragraph (or two) on your appearances, awards or community service and include pictures. We want you to have all of the support of this great lifestyle we call Miss Florida USA!

» Alumni News Wanted!

If you know of any Miss Florida USA alumni in the news please drop us an email to feature them in future articles. Email all info to info@missfloridausa.com! Until next week here to good pageantry!

PICTURE OF THE WEEK!

Our Picture of The Week Committee is super excited that Miss USA is finally here! After months of anticipation we have our first photo entry from Las Vegas. Check out this picture as our 2008 contestants pose with showgirls as they arrive for the official arrival ceremony at the Planet Hollywood hotel and casino in Las Vegas, Thursday, March 27, 2008. The pageant is on and we celebrate it with a POTW award!