"And there she is, walking on air, she is. Fairest of the fair, she is. There she is, Miss America."

For many years little girls have crowded around the television to watch the new Miss America get crown! It has become a tradition in our society, Miss America is an ambassador of sorts and an iconic image most little girls dream of becoming once in their lifetime.

Over the years pageants have receive the negative stereotype of pageant contestants being dumb women who have nothing to offer society but their looks. That's not the case! Most of the women competing in pageants are bright intellengent women with mulitple talents! As a young woman who competed in beauty pageant since I was a child, I can honestly say I gained insight then as to the women I am today.

The broadcasting industry has shown the public one type of pageant such as "Toddlers and Tiaras" shown on the TLC. I call this the glitz and glam (totally fake) pageantry. Trust me not every pageant is like the one you've seen on television. This is why pageant get a negative reputation, because not all the good beauty queens do for our community is shown.

When you're a beauty queen, you represent a community whether is be locally or nationally. So image is very important; an all around woman is ideal to represent the title she holds through community service, bringing awareness to a platform and of course like any queen making appearances. Beauty queens are hold to a higher standard when holding a title and the public eye is waiting to see how they will impact the community with their good will and unfortunately in any part of society people are waiting to see a beauty queen make mistakes.

Vanessa Williams is a famous actress, singer, and fashion designer who became famous for being the first African-American Miss America in 1984. However, nude photos she took before her pageant days were published on a magazine cover, eventually forcing her to resign as Miss America. Even though the photos on the magazine were not her fault she still lost her crown because her public imagine was now damaged. This past year, Miss America corporation publicly apologized to Williams. Pageants give young women the advantage to become a woman with higher standards of living.

There are many positives when it comes to competing in beauty pageants. Many young girls can compete for scholarship money to attend college. Being a beauty queen will help when it comes to your job resume, you'll have so much to talk about and show what you've done with your title through community service. The Miss America organization promotes service as a quality each contestant should posses. Each woman has a platform to raise awareness and money for! This teaches women to be active and give back to the community.

All of the women who participate in pageants are women with intelligence. Competing in pageants and holding a title you'll meet so many people along the way, life long friendships will be a definite. I never thought one of my closest friends I meet through pageants would be apart of my life still after our pageant careers. And most of my close family friends are because of connections I've experienced through pageants. This type of competition and lifestyle have brought myself and my pageant friends confident to go out into the world to make a difference in any way possible. Even though I do not compete anymore, I highly recommend every young girl participate in at least one pageant! It's a lot of fun, I promise!