Athens might be far away from the glitz and glam of competitive beauty pageants, but it's home to several contestants.
This summer Sarah Hider, an Ohio University freshman studying broadcast news, will compete in the Miss Ohio Pageant, a preliminary for Miss America. Hider, who works for WOUB, has competed in 10 pageants and has won two Ohio state titles.
Though Hider's love for pageants began when she was 8, success in pageants is not exclusive to those who begin at a young age. Hilary Johnson, a freshman studying public relations, began participating in pageants her senior year of high school.
I was at a prom dress shop and a woman who worked there was like
'Oh my gosh do you do pageants?' ... I told her I didn't and she was actually trying to convince me to do one that was two weeks later she said.
Two weeks later, Johnson won Strawberry Festival Teen Queen, a preliminary for Miss West Virginia USA.
Pageant participants often find common ground in the stereotypes associated with competing for the crown.
If it comes up I'm not afraid to say that I've done pageants
but I will correct them. It's not like Toddlers and Tiaras. That's not what I was in nor would I want to be. It's just kind of annoying when people assume that I'm a scripted ditz
Johnson said.
Contestants at OU said they used the pageants to boost their chances of job success.
Honestly
there have been moments when I've doubted that I wanted to do this anymore and I just think to myself that this give me that extra edge ... that 'it factor' for my resume
and that's what people in the TV industry look for
she said.
Susie Kuilder, a junior studying broadcast news and president of the Women's Panhellenic
Association, was Miss Cleveland 2007 and sees a correlation between the skills associated with pageants and journalism.
In pageants
you have to be able to go up and talk in front of a group of people
be able to talk on the spot about any given topic
which definitely requires skills very related to those that are used in the field of journalism
