Photo copyrighted to Jackson Sun.
Jackson Sun, June 25, 2006
By PETE WICKHAM - pwickham@jacksonsun.com
Blaire Pancake's plans for a law school career got put on hold Saturday night, as the 23-year-old from Chattanooga won the Miss Tennessee Scholarship Pageant at the Carl Perkins Civic Center.
Pancake, Miss Metropolitan, gave a brassy, confident rendition of the song "I'm a Woman" from the musical "Smoky Joe's Cafe," which gave her the talent preliminary on Friday night, and helped tip the balance Saturday.
Pancake wins a $10,000 scholarship, and begins work today as the governor's new spokesperson for a Safe and Drug-Free Tennessee. She also will head to Los Angeles for the Miss America preliminary competitions on Sept. 5-13, and the pageant itself in January at a site to be announced.
She will take her platform against child neglect and abuse across the state and to the Miss America competition this year.
Ansley Reagan of Ooltewah (Miss Cleveland), who was third runner-up here a year ago, took home $6,000 in scholarship money as first runner-up this time around. Second runner-up Rebecca Turner of Knoxville (Miss Pioneer) won a $5,000 grant. Third runner-up was worth $4,000 to Stefanie Wittler of Soddy Daisy (Miss Hamilton County), while April Lancaster of Bartlett (Miss Memphis) was the fourth runner-up and earned $3,000.
Semifinalists Erica Jacobs of Jackson (Miss Bluegrass Festival), Lindsay Harper of Trenton (Miss Capital City), Tiffany Collier of Nashville (Miss Spirit of the South), Rachel Parsons of Jasper (Miss Chattanooga) and Elizabeth Jane Chedester of Knoxville (Miss Volunteer) all earned $2,000 scholarships from the fund of $72,000.
Jacobs and Lancaster also were semifinalists here in 2005.
With the preliminary victory under her belt just 24 hours earlier, Pancake was confident going back on stage for her number again Saturday night.
"I got lots of cards and letters of encouragement from family, friends and local pageant people," she said. "I was comfortable, and it was just a matter of doing what I'd worked on for months."
For her final interview on stage, she drew an question on whether teen phenoms such as golfer Michelle Wie should compete for top pro honors, or stay in school. Pancake's sister, Brooke, is 16 and one of the top-ranked junior golfers in the world.
"How lucky is that?" said Pancake, who said the youngsters should head for the college scholarship first. "Brooke is kicking butt out there ... but college is something you shouldn't miss."
A former veteran of modeling competitions, Pancake went through all of her college career (she earned a bachelor's degree in anthropology at the University of Tennessee Knoxville) without entering a pageant.
"Friends told me I needed to give it a try, and I was running out of time to do it," said Pancake, who won the only pageant she entered - the Cleveland-based Miss Metropolitan.
Getting money for law school was the key item on her agenda. "My dad (Dr. Bruce Pancake) has four daughters, and all the scholarship money I can get helps. ... He was screaming, 'All right!' when I won - but it took me a long time for it to register. I still don't think this has sunk in yet."
A veteran of modeling competitions, Pancake went through all of her college career (she earned a bachelor's degree in anthropology at UT Knoxville) without entering a pageant.
"Friends told me I needed to give it a try, and I was running out of time to do it," said Pancake, who won the only pageant she entered - the Cleveland-based Miss Metropolitan.
Reagan won the Miss America Community Service Award, Lancaster the Miss America Academic Scholarship and Wittler the Community Service Award offered by the Miss Tennessee organization.
Parsons took home the Miss Congeniality scholarship award for the second straight year, while Kayla Hockett of Humboldt (Miss Middle Tennessee State University) won the Public Relations Award for the second time. Danielle Colburn of Memphis (Miss Southeast Tennessee) won Non-Finalist Interview honors.
All those awards were worth $1,000.
Seven of the 10 semifinalists came from East Tennessee pageants this time around, with five of six preliminary-round winners making their way to the finals Saturday night.
Lancaster, Collier and Pancake had won preliminary talent victories, while Wittler and Reagan won in the swimsuit category.