Watching the Miss America pageant at home was always a family event in my household. So to have the chance to go to the show instead of watching it on TV was an opportunity of a lifetime. The night of the event began with my companions and I walking down the boardwalk of Atlantic City to the Atlantic City Convention Center, a couple blocks from the hotel we were staying at. A large crowd of people had gathered at the entrance, all dressed to the nines. The security at the door ran a metal detector over everyone before allowing them to enter into the building. The amount of security was indescribable. They even had an officer video taping the entrance. I have never seen so many security officers in one place before.
Once inside we sat down in our seats (they weren’t quite nose bleed seats but almost). The one thing I realized about the taping of the show is that they fake a lot of stuff to make the show seem better than it actually is. On television it seems that the audience is entirely filling the space. To do that they only take shots of the audience where the seats are filled. I’d say that the space was about only 60 percent filled. The one thing I never got used to during the show is hearing the announcer scream "10 seconds people. Applause. We’re going to the crowd shots." I couldn’t get used to the idea of being told to applaud on command but that’s how you make a live television show. Another thing that they faked was part of Tony Danza’s tap dancing number with the girls. The sound you hear on the television of him tapping was prerecorded. He did actually do the number during the show, but the sounds were all fake. The one thing that wasn’t fake was the contestants.
After the show was over and the winner, Miss Oregon, was declared, those who had special badges were allowed into a back room where the contestants were given their awards. This is where I had the privilege of interviewing Miss Vermont and Miss New York, fourth runner up.
During the previous two weeks the young women, aged 18 to 24, had spent the entire time together working, shopping, rehearsing, competing, and sharing a lifetime of experiences. During these competitions, the women bonded together more than I would have thought. They became each others’ best friends and supporters, this year’s competition even more so than ever. The Miss America Organization had the girls vote on whether they wanted to continue or to postpone the competition due to the events that happened on the September 11. The vote turned out to be 34 who wanted to continue and 17 who did not. Miss Vermont, Amy Johnson, being one of the people who did not want to continue, was shaken up when talking about it. "I lost one of my good friends … but after the decision was made to continue with the competition we all bonded together and helped support each other so that by time competition came we were all ready to compete." Miss New York, Andrea Plummer, commented that, "unlike other years, this year’s competition had more of a focus on patriotism which is a special feeling that no other year has had."
What got both Miss Vermont and Miss New York interested in the Miss America pageant was the scholarships that the organization gives. Miss New York also got started because she wanted to have the ability to speak out about her platform, multiple sclerosis education. Both Miss Vermont and Miss New York are planning on spending the year speaking about their platforms and educating the public not only about their platform but also about what the Miss America Organization does. "The most important thing that the organization does is it allows women to promote their talent and abilities," Miss Vermont stated.
There were a few things that changed this year as compared to all the previous year. The first thing was that the interview portion of the show was changed such that each contestant was asked a question about their platform instead of, as in previous years, a single question being asked to all of the contestants. Asking the question about the contestants platform gives them more of a chance at being well versed in the topic. Another thing that was changed this year is that there was a quiz that the final five contestants had to take about our country’s history and current events. This means that the women have to be aware of what’s going on in the world and important events that have happened in the past, which is an important virtue for Miss America. The last thing that was changed was that the contestants who did not make it into the top five became the last judges. After the final 10 were announced the women voted on who they wanted to be Miss America. Miss Vermont voted for Miss Massachusetts, who became runner up in the competition.
There are a lot of things that I learned on Saturday I have a lot more respect for the women and what they have to go through. They’re everyday people like you and me trying to prove themselves to the world. The one thing that most people don’t understand when watching Miss America is that the Miss America Pageant isn’t entirely about looking beautiful; it’s about young women uniting together to show the nation and the world who they are and what they can do. These women showed me that no matter what happens, if you support each other you can make it through almost anything.
