Miss Puerto Rico, Kiaraliz Medina donned a ‘new accessory’ during one of her preliminary nights of competition… Crutches!  🙁 

Unfortunately, Kiaraliz twisted her ankle backstage and fainted because of the pain (gracious!).  However, she was a good sport about the incident when giving her state introduction… She said, “I’m here to make the crutches look good” 🙂

The Junkies regret to say… this is about to be a super-short blogpost about Puerto Rico.  While we have photos of 12 of the 13 girls competing from their Facebook page (one photo is missing) – there are no names, which I’m afraid makes researching the contestants all but impossible.

In any event, I’m certain a very beautiful, talented and well-deserving woman will win the crown this year and do a fine job of representing Puerto Rico in Atlantic City come September!

Junkies Wish Everyone at Miss PR ALL THE BEST!!!

MAJ

Just before Christmas 2012, Miss Washington Mandy Schendel spent time at a military base thanking soldiers and families for their service.  Mandy’s grandfather retired from the Army, her dad served 5 years in the Army and her mom describes herself as a ‘military brat’ growing up on various bases.  During this event, Mandy was able to encourage military children to make wise choices – and her presence didn’t go unnoticed.

“They thought she was a princess, with the crown,” Army-mom Sydney Flores said – adding that her daughters were delighted to have a photo taken with Schendel. “I think that was a really good thing to see themselves in a picture with someone they’d probably like to be.”

Who knows… perhaps Mandy had her photo taken with someone who just might become Miss Washington one day!

Congrats to Mandy on her Top 10 finish and prelim swimsuit win at Miss America in Vegas — We wouldn’t at all be surprised if we see Miss Mandy on the Washington USA stage in the near future!  She could become one of those rare ‘triple crown’ winners who wins their state in Teen USA, Miss America and Miss USA!

Now – as we look at this year’s Miss WA class… we know there are plenty of strong contestants competing… and of course… 

Junkies Say Here’s Who to Watch:
Reina Almon – Prelim Gown and 1st runner up ’12, WA OT ’09
Catherine Waters – Rookie of the yr ’12, Prelim Talent ’12
Victoria Knight – WA OT ’08
Shannon Touhy – 4th runner up ’07
Kaylee Dunn- Prelim SS ’12
Mckenzie Novell – Prelim SS ’12

Item to Note: Paige and Laura Kuhn are sisters both competing for Miss WA this year!

ALL THE BEST TO EVERYONE AT MISS WA!!!  GOOD LUCK LADIES!!! 🙂

Even when she was just a kid, Danae Couch, Miss Texas, knew what she wanted to be a lawyer when she ‘grew up’.

And in an interview given in the Texas Bar Journal in September 2012, Danae said pageants were a great “primer” for her legal career.
          “You are thrown into a new environment all of the time and you to think on your feet.  You also have to win people over and endear them to you.  I see closing arguments as being similar.  I think it is helping me hone my advocacy skills.”
 Something else Danae has enjoyed since she was a kid is twirling!  In fact Danae’s twirling career started at age 8 but her pageant career didn’t start until age 20.

And when Danae’s advocacy/interview skills combined with her twirling skills, she earned herself a Top 10 finish at Miss America!  Danae will return to law school this fall to finish her studies – and looks to use her law degree to be an advocate for others.

Now – on to this year’s Miss Texas Pageant!

Let’s start by saying… As easy as it was to list the front runners for Miss Texas last year (if you remember, there were 3 different women who had been named 1st runner up to Miss TX all competing in ’12) – it’s just THAT HARD to find the front-runners this year!  And – when you compete in Texas, you don’t even walk in the door unless you have a fabulous head-shot and a great prep team behind you!  Add all of this to the fact that there are 49 girls competing this year!  So – let’s just say, we wouldn’t be surprised if someone who’s not on our list wins the crown this year.  We did our best — but this is a tough pageant to pin down!  In light of all that…

Junkies Say Here’s Who to Watch:

Monique Evans – Top 10 in ’11 and prelim talent,
Christine Tang – 4th runner up ’12, Top 10 in ’09
Taylor Lowrey – TX OT ’09
Zoe Cadore – Alpha Talent in ’12, Law Student, interned with Congressman Shelia Jackson
Breshell Hurley – Alpha Talent & Alpha Interview winner ’12, Top 10 in ’12
Callie Thompson – Top 15 ’10, TX OT ’07
Morgan Fuller – TX Cinderella State Teen ’07
Michelle Hanson – Junkies Favorite TX Social Media Junkie 🙂

Junkies Love Texas!!!  ALL THE BEST! 🙂

 Kaitlin Gates was one of 9 former Outstanding Teens who made their way to Miss America 2013… The photo above was taken at a special luncheon in Orlando for former OT’s who came back to win a state title.  Just in case you’re wondering – the state winners are (from left to right)  OK, IN, MD, WV,  NH, AR, MA, SC and NJ.

It’s been lots of fun watching “Outstanding Teens” make their way into the “Miss” arena – and another great way for girls to get to know each other before all being thrown in a room together and saying – “Guess What?  You’re all trying to become Miss America – Get Along and Have Fun!”

It didn’t happen this year… but one of these years, Miss America will crown a girl who was formerly an Outstanding Teen.  Mallory Hagan has also been a wonderful advocate for the OT program because even though she never won her state, it’s where she began her Miss America journey.

This year, we have a few OT winners competing at Miss WV… and

Junkies Say Here’s Who to Watch:

Makayla Lewis -1st runner up ’12, WV Sweetheart delegate ’12
Maggie Power – 2nd runner up ’12
Jackie Riggleman – Top 8 in ’12, WV OT in ’09
Bethany Lojewski – WV OT ’08
Chelsea Malone – former “WV Idol”, 2nd runner up OT ’09
Elizabeth Goodall – WV Jr. Miss ’09
Jeseca Bragg – Prelim Talent Winner in ’11 – 4th time at Miss WV
Miranda Harrison – Non-Finalist Talent Winner at Miss VA ’09, Prelim Talent winner ’12 and Top 12 at WV

Good Luck Ladies!  🙂

Often times, a newly crowned queen who’s been doing this ‘pageant thing’ for a while, doesn’t give a genuine reaction when finally winning her state crown… Not the case with Taylor Kinzler, Miss Massachusetts…

Taylor was no ‘newbie’ to the Miss America scene… She was Miss MA OT in ’08 (at the age of 15), 2nd runner up in ’11, 1st runner up in ’10 and Miss MA Sweetheart in ’10.  To see this kind of reaction from a girl who’s been ‘playing the game’ for that long, tells you about Taylor’s heart.

In addition, Taylor had featured gymnastics during her talent during each of those pageants… but at Miss America, she decided to sing!  Not only did she sing – she sang a song EVERYONE thinks they can sing… “At Last” by Etta James (it’s a LOT harder than it looks).  The Junkies heard Taylor sing in the preliminary competition at Miss America – and were shocked she hadn’t sung in a pageant before!  The judges agreed and rewarded her with a Non-Finalist Talent award that was well deserved!   

And now – Junkies Say Here’s Who to Watch for 2013:

Amanda Narcisco – 1st runner up ’11, 3rd Runner up at Miss Sweetheart 
Meagan Fuller – Mass Jr. Miss 2010 = Top 10 Finish at Nationals, 1st runner up Mass OT ’09
Nicole Diblasi – 4th runner up ’12, 2nd runner up Miss MA Teen USA ’11
Marissa Louro – 1st runner up Miss RI ’12, Top 10 Miss Mass ’10
Kelsey Beck – Soph. at Harvard – Mom was Miss FL ’71
Janelle Gruenette – Mass Jr. Nat. Teen ’04, 1st Runner up Mass Pre-Teen ’07
Jenna Nowlin – Non-Finalist Talent ’11

Good Luck to Everyone at Miss Mass this Week!  Junkies Love Ya!!!

MAJ