The Miss America Organization has made some changes in the recent weeks with their Board of Directors. One of those changes is the possibility of taking away the swimsuit portion of the contest.

The swimsuit portion is supposed to show off the health and fitness of the girls participating. For guys, it can be their favorite part of the show, for obvious reasons. But some girls like it because it is a really good way of showing off their health and fitness.

Personally, I am for keeping the swimsuit, but not at the local level. If you didn’t know there are three levels of the MAO (Miss America Organization). The first level is the local level, this is for representation of your local community, county or region. Then these girls compete for the state title and then obviously the state titleholders compete for Miss America on the big stage in Atlantic City on TV.

I believe the local level could do away with the swimsuit portion. They could go with the activewear clothing. This is basically just workout clothing. So, yoga pants and a sports bra-type top. This how Miss America Outstanding Teen does their health and fitness category. I feel that at the local level this would work well. The local level is the first step, so making the first step in fitness clothes it could help the contests feel more at ease and less nervous being on stage. As well as getting them used to it, especially if it is their first pageant.

I do feel that the swimsuit should be left as is at the state and the Miss America level. The Miss America pageant started off with the swimsuit.

It is what has started it all, so it is a tradition.

The same as it always being held in Atlantic City and the crown that everyone knows is the Miss America Crown. It is not there to see which girl is the skinniest or has the longest legs. It is a showcase for the girl who is healthy and is fit, and there is nothing wrong with that.

One thing that I feel like that should be encouraged more in the swimsuit competition is a one-piece swimsuit. Back in the early days of the pageant, this is what all contests wore and more recently it has been solely two-piece bikinis.

The one piece is still the swimsuit competition, but it is more conservative. If the organization wanted to make a big change but still keep the swimsuit this would be the way I would recommend going. It is kind of like the best of both worlds. More is covered, you keep the competition, and you can still judge a girl's healthiness and fitness.

One of the main reasons I am for the swimsuit competition is not only because it is the start of the Miss America pageant. I feel that it’s a good way to promote healthy living and fitness. While I understand people calling it over sexualizing, I see that point of view, but at the same time, when we see how fit guys are guys do not have shirts on. To me a two-piece swimsuit on a woman is the same test as we would have for a guy.

So, Miss America Organization and Directors, both old and new, please keep the swimsuit competition, at the very least for the Miss America competition.