Contact: Harriet Laird
STARKVILLE, Miss.--Ten Mississippi students and one from Alabama vie Friday [Nov. 5] for the title of Miss Mississippi State University.
The pageant begins at 7 p.m. in Lee Hall's Bettersworth Auditorium, with doors opening an hour earlier. General admission is $10; $5 for MSU students with identification.
The annual event selects a campus representative to the Miss Mississippi Pageant in Vicksburg, from which a winner at the 2010 summer competition advances to the Miss America Pageant later in the year.
Involving four seniors, two juniors, two sophomores, and three freshmen, this year's Miss MSU Pageant contestants include (alphabetically, by hometown):
ACKERMAN--Sarah Danielle Irvin, an educational psychology major and the daughter of Danny and Angela Irvin.
BRANDON--Shelby Danielle Corn, a kinesiology major and the daughter of Penny Corn; Robyn Aryelle Ford, a communication major and the daughter of Robert and Joycelyn Ford; Molly Nail, an animal and dairy science major and the daughter of Chris and Pam Nail.
CLEVELAND--Mary Margaret Roark, a communication major and the daughter of Fred and Mary Jo Roark.
CORINTH--TaNechi Temple, a psychology major and the daughter of Anita Temple.
MADISON--Katie Ruth Robertson, a communication major and daughter of Gene and Cyndie Robertson.
RAYMOND--Kim Watson, a history major and the daughter of Leonard Watson, Jr. and Betty M. Watson.
STARKVILLE--Victoria Ferguson, a business economics major and the daughter of Bill and Vicki Burnett; and Jessica Terrill, a communication major and the daughter of Jeff and Jan Terrill.
TUSCUMBIA, Ala.--Brittany Southern, a pre-accounting major and the daughter of Steve and Angela Southern.
Pageant director Heidie Lindsey said each contestant will be judged in the categories of interview, evening wear, talent, and lifestyle and fitness in swimsuit.
Each woman also will have an onstage pageant question to answer as part of the judging, added Lindsey, associate director of the Colvard Student Union.
The Miss America Organization remains the world's largest provider of scholarship assistance for young women. Last year, MAO and its state and local affiliates made available more than $45 million in cash and scholarship assistance.
For additional pageant information, contact Lindsay at 662-325-3063 or hlindsey@saffairs.msstate.edu.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.