Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Alyssa George won the 2007 Miss Kansas title last weekend at Pratt Community College in Pratt, outshining 21 contestants over a weeklong session of talent showcasing, competitions and on-stage interviews.
George, Minneapolis, Kan., senior, represented Sedgwick County in the competition. In addition to her title as Miss Kansas, George will receive a $5,000 scholarship and also earned the opportunity to represent the Sunflower state in the Miss America competition.
“I am still shocked and amazed at the opportunity I have in front of me,” George said. George was in Wichita on Monday where she began her yearlong tour as Miss Kansas. This was George’s third year as a Miss Kansas contestant, having also competed in 2004 and 2005.
“This year my goal was to make the top five,” George said. “I didn’t think I would really win.”
As part of the victory, George also won one of two swimsuit competitions and was named the pageant’s best instrumentalist for her piano performance. She earned two other scholarship awards totaling $750.
The pageant was held from June 6 to June 9 when George was announced the winner.
George’s plans to enter the University as a senior this fall will have to wait. Her responsibilities as Miss Kansas are full-time and prevent her from taking classes. But it’s a sacrifice George is willing to make to achieve a a lifelong goal: becoming Miss America.
During the next year, George will travel the state and country speaking to youths in schools about bullying in the classrooms. George has spoken with more than 6,000 school children since starting her push to rid schools of bullies as a junior in her hometown high school. “Bullying: The Bystander Effect,” was George’s Miss Kansas platform, a subject near to her heart since eighth grade when she was terrorized by a bully. George said she wants to show students and teachers how valuable witness collaboration is in eliminating the problem.
Her focus on tackling such a topic for so long made George an ideal candidate for Miss Kansas.
Michelle Walthers, a judge and spokeswoman for the Miss Kansas Pageant, said a large part of Miss Kansas’ responsibilities included speaking with children in schools across the state, something Walthers says George has nearly perfected.
“Alyssa was very thorough and extremely prepared, something we really looked for in our contestants,” Walthers said.
Prior to the pageant, all 21 contestants were instructed to write tentative business plans as if they were Miss Kansas. Walthers said George’s plan was well-organized and stood out among the other contestants’.
“A big part of Miss Kansas is talking with kids and when I looked through her platform, it was evident she was concerned about young people,” Walthers said. “She personified the image of Miss Kansas and Miss America.”
After falling short of the Miss Kansas title in 2004 and 2005, George took a year off from the pageant to focus on her studies as a business major at the University and her volunteer work through Chi Omega as Rock Chalk director. George’s route to becoming Miss Kansas started in August of 2006 when she was selected as Miss Sedgwick County. Her mother, Mary Beth George, said the year between pageants allowed her to mature into the person that won Miss Kansas.
“I’ve always known she was the full package, I just didn’t know when it was all going to culminate,” Mary Beth said. “But I knew she was going to be Miss Kansas.”
— Edited by Joe Caponio
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