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LIFE & ARTS

Pageant focuses on all facets of ladies' beauty

by DANTE EGLIN
The Daily Cougar

It' s a late night dance session and the bass is thumping, with 11 young women leaning and rocking to an addictive club track. Laughter permeates the air when a bystander asks the DJ to play the song one more time; some seek podiatric relief from stomping up the dance floor in their stilettos.

The scene is reminiscent of a Saturday night in a nightclub, but the action taking place in the Oberholtzer Hall Ballroom is one of the nightly practices for the 24th annual Miss Black and Gold Scholarship Pageant. This year' s pageant, presented by the Eta Mu Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, will be held at 7 p.m. Sunday at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, 1700 Smith St.

While many beauty pageants emphasize external beauty, the Miss Black and Gold pageant is a bit different.

"The difference between ours and normal pageants is that most pageants focus on outer appearance, whereas ours is a combination of intelligence as well as both inner and outer beauty," said civil engineering junior Brandon Cheatham, one of the pageant' s co-chairs. 

Nearly 75 ladies tried out for the pageant and 11 made the final cut this year. For the talent portion, many contestants will sing or perform orations, and one or two will perform original poetry and spoken word.

Psychology junior Stephanie Barton, the chapter' s reigning Miss Black and Gold said she valued her experience last year. 

"I got exactly what I was expecting, and I was happy with the fact that we weren' t asked to force our body into the ‘pageant girl' image," she said. 

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