Tomboy becomes beauty pageant champ
By CHRISTINE JOINER Staff Writer
REHOBOTH - She just won Miss National Teenager, but participating in beaut Growing up in Rehoboth,
Beers was the middle of three children - and the only girl.
Although she spent some time in the dance hall, learning ballet, she considered herself mainly a tomboy. Soccer was her life.
An accident on the field the summer before her 15th birthday changed everything.
“I ended up hurting my back and I wasn’t able to play anymore,” said Beers, 18. “I was devastated. I cried a long time, just asking my mom why had this happened.”
Then one of her good friends suggested she try out for a local pageant.
“It was the Miss Teen International,” Beers said. “I didn’t win, but it was a lot of fun.”
That was three years ago.
Today, Beers carries two titles - Miss Teen Massachusetts, in addition to Miss National Teenager.
“It’s just amazing,” she said of her wins.
The 2006 Dighton Rehoboth Regional High School graduate brought home not only a crown from Miss National Teenager, but a four-year scholarship to Oklahoma University.
Beers competed against 15 girls from all over the country at the event, which took place in Nashville, Tenn., on July 30.
It was the biggest audience Beers had ever been in front of, but she wasn’t afraid.
After participating in numerous pageants throughout the years, Beers said she has grown accustomed to being on stage in front of large crowds.
One of her competitors -Courtney Hattaway, of Alabama - had been featured on Oprah for a prom dress collection for the Katrina victims.
“These girls were really impressive,” Beers said. ” It’s not just your body or beauty that’s actually getting you up [on the stage]. It’s about the whole package.”
Sixty percent of the teens’ overall score is based on their community service and academic achievement. Thirty percent rates the teen’s stage presence. The remaining 10 percent rates personal expression, in which the competitors were told to wear a white T-shirt and a pair of jeans they had decorated.
For that part, she enlisted the help of her creative grandmother.
“We painted a half moon, with stars saying ‘Relay for Life’ on the front,” Beers said. “And on the back, because I love theater, we wrote ‘wicked’ down the side, after the Wicked Witch.”
Because the girls competing are in their teens and younger, Beers said the pageant really wanted to keep the essence of bring a young lady.
“I didn’t feel any pressure to change my image,” she said. “They really tried to protect girls’ innocence.”
During her high school years Beers was very active in community service.
She started by volunteering in soup kitchens, moving her way up to the Relay for Life campaign, in which people walk or run laps to raise funds against cancer, and working with a local initiative, Kids Are People Too.
“We helped kids get volunteer work, because most of the time adults don’t take them seriously,” said Beers.
Despite her extracurricular activities, she was able to maintain a 4.0 grade point average throughout high school.
This fall, Miss National Teenager will attend Framingham State College to study communications - more specifically, broadcast journalism.
“I really like talking to people,” she said. “I want to take it to the area of helping people.”
cjoiner@tauntongazette.com