By Patricia Older, Lifestyles Editor
The Picayune Item
PICAYUNE — Fourteen young ladies will vie for the title of 2011 Pearl River County Junior Miss at the Picayune Auditorium on Saturday, March 13 at 6 p.m. Admission is $10, which is used directly for providing the scholarships.
Pearl River County Junior Miss is a decades-old scholarship program which seeks to emphasize excellence in education. There are five areas in which the teens will be judged: Scholastics — 20 percent; 10-minute timed interview — 20 percent; fitness — 15 percent; talent — 25 percent; and poise — 15 percent.
America’s Junior Miss, now in its 52nd year, is a multi-tiered scholarship competition. The first portion of the competition is designed for young ladies in their junior year of high school and enables them to compete locally for cash scholarships and awards.
Winners move up to the state level where they compete for the Mississippi Junior Miss title. The winner of that competition competes the following year as a high school senior for the America’s Junior Miss title against the winners from the other 49 states.
More than 700,000 teens from across the nation have participated in the Junior Miss programs at the local, state, and national levels. In addition to cash scholarships, Junior Miss participants are eligible for college-granted scholarships from almost 200 colleges
Last year, Emily Ladner of Picayune Memorial High School was voted Pearl River County Junior Miss and Jasmine Thomas was named Picayune Junior Miss.
Both winners of Saturday night’s competition will go on to try for the state title of Junior Miss and if either one wins the state title, they will prepare for the 2011 America’s Junior Miss competition, which will be held in June 2011.
Pageant co-director Connie Windham said that local and corporate sponsors are what help fund the competition and scholarships. “We would like to thank our local sponsors, she said. “Marble Slab Creamery, Italian Grill, Paul’s Pastry, First National Bank for the judges’ interviews, Sarah’s School of Dance, Picayune Item, Coast Electric, Civic Women's Club for providing T-shirts and cash scholarship, Bank Plus, First Federal Bank, and First National bank for cash scholarships.”
Corporate sponsors, she said, include Mobile County, Alabama, Encore Rehabilitation, Regions Bank, Alabama Power, and the Bobo Baker Scholarship Fund.
“The Pearl River County Junior Miss program would not be possible without the many volunteers who contribute so much of their time and effort to make this program a success, we appreciate you all,” said Windham.
