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Alumna aspires to win Miss Texas in its first year in Texas Hall

Written by Harold Loren, Contributor to The Shorthorn

Tuesday, 30 June 2009 08:25 PM

Felicia Fuller, Miss Texas executive producer and co-producer, directs contestants during rehearsal Monday at Texas Hall. The competition includes 37 hopefuls from all ends of Texas yearning for the Miss Texas title who will compete at the finals 8 p.m. Friday. (The Shorthorn: Rasy Ran)

Alumna Cristie Kibler said she is focusing more seriously than ever to win Friday’s Miss Texas pageant because it may be her last competition.

Kibler is Miss Highland Park, competed for the last five years and is an American Cancer Society fund-raising advocate. Kibler is an Honors College graduate with a political science degree and minor in women’s studies. She donned her ceremonial cap and gown in May and plans to begin the UTA Social Work graduate program this fall. She might go to law school afterward.

Kibler said she’s glad the pageant moved from Fort Worth to Texas Hall this year.

“I love UTA,” she said. “I’ve been here for the past four years, and I’m delighted the pageant has moved here this year. It just feels like home to me.”

When & Where

What: Miss Texas
Where: Texas Hall
When: Box office opens 7 p.m. Friday, finals and crowning at 8 p.m.

Tickets

Preliminaries
When: 7 p.m. today
Cost: $37.50, after service and handling fee

Miss Texas Finals
When: 8 p.m. Friday
Cost: $75

Webcast link: http://www.webcastingnetworks.com/misstexas; stream begins 6 p.m.

Source: www.misstexas.org/tickets/

Placing in preliminary categories and winning several regional pageant competitions through the years paid for much of her college education, she said. But this isn’t her only incentive.

“It’s more than just winning scholarship money for most of us,” Kibler said. “It’s an opportunity to make great friends, participate in unique experiences and hopefully make a difference with something you care about.”

She said her friends and fellow competitors tend to have rather noble and often compelling reasons for entering. In Cristie’s case, her aunt Janet’s battle with breast cancer inspired her to raise funds for the American Cancer Society through events like the Relay For Life.

Cristie said she tries balancing schoolwork with competitions, but also said it’s important to maintain a youthful social life. Miss Texas winners want to be relevant and in tune with society, she said. Interview segments during the pageant are meant to reflect this.

“Being Miss Texas can be a very demanding job,” she said. “It’s not necessarily a glamorous job just because you’re wearing a crown on your head.”

Pageant Information

The Miss Texas 2009 crown is up for grabs Friday night in Texas Hall.

The event brings 37 young women from across Texas to compete in categories like talent and personality. Produced by the Miss Texas Organization, it’s designed to provide personal and professional opportunities for young women in Texas and to promote their voice in culture, politics and community. The overall winner will receive, among other things, scholarships and the opportunity to represent Texas in the 2010 Miss America Pageant slated for Jan. 30 in Las Vegas.

A choreographed 1940s-styled United Service Organizations salute to the armed forces is the 2009 pageant presentation theme, with performances onstage by the contestants and additional performers.

“We felt this was a great theme for us with July Fourth being right around the corner,” said Jean Magness, Miss Texas Scholarship Pageant executive director.

Magness said the pageant’s location switch, after many years in Fort Worth, happened primarily because of Rep. Joe Barton, R-Arlington, who has served as a pageant judge. The organization has a signed 5-year letter of intent to stay in Arlington.

“We are delighted to have made the jump this year from Fort Worth to Arlington,” Magness said. “Texas Hall is really working out well for us.”

She estimates that the pageant brings about $2 million a year to the communities hosting it.

“If you think about it, there are the ladies who participate and they have parents and brothers and sisters who come to watch them compete,” Magness said. “They all need hotel rooms and restaurants and all sorts of services that the community benefits from providing.”

Some of the contestants are already winners from preliminary competitions held this week at Texas Hall.

This year’s first preliminary night award Miss Talent went to Miss Texarkana Adrianna Nelson and Miss Frisco Kathryn Dunn took Miss Swimsuit.

Friday evening’s show can also be viewed as a live webcast at http://www.webcastingnetworks.com/misstexas.

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Last Updated ( Thursday, 20 August 2009 10:34 AM )

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