Warner Robins board shares key ingredients for pageant success

With the Miss Warner Robins Scholarship Pageant having two national winners in the past several years, many eyes are watching to see if another state winner will come out of Middle Georgia in The 72nd annual Miss Georgia Pageant, which will be held June 14-18.

The Warner Robins/International City Scholarship Pageant has been in the national news in recent years. Betty Cantrell won Miss Warner Robins 2015, Miss Georgia 2015 and ultimately the title of Miss America 2016. Miss Warner Robins Outstanding Teen 2014 Olivia McMillan won the title of Miss Georgia Outstanding Teen 2014 and took home the title of Miss America’s Outstanding Teen 2015

With this success, Miss Warner Robins/International City Scholarship Pageant Executive Director Rodney Johnson said that in preparation for the upcoming state pageant, the board is simply continuing to do what it has done in the past with its winners.

“In the past what has created success is working diligently with the girls and their moms throughout the process and helping them understand that it is fun and do-able,” Johnson said. “We make sure the girls are informed on Miss America’s guidelines and prepared for Miss Georgia. … We are not changing anything but staying with a solid foundation of providing a wealth of love, support and prepping from a great board. I like to think if something is not broken why try to fix it?”

Marcy Waugh, past executive director of the Miss Warner Robins Board, said the board has been fortunate to have such talented, intellectual and service-driven young women in the area who desire to make a difference through the Miss America organization.

“The Warner Robins Board members have many years of experience between them and have a reputation for building strong relationships with their queens,” she said. “They are great at giving their queens the support needed and utilizing community resources to make every young lady the best version of herself for competition.”

Despite having a successful formula for working with their queens, Johnson said sometimes it’s still a challenge to get hometown entries.

“I want to dispel the myth that we are over flooded with contestants,” he said. “Each year we recruit by looking at our middle school pageant girls, high school, local colleges and locally known girls to enter. ... We would love to have as many girls as possible to enter this year, and we will surely believe it related to the hometown girl winning the national crown of Miss America.”

Johnson said the Warner Robins board helps girls be the best that they can in the pageant arena and beyond. He said that the girls are most successful when they are willing to listen to the prep committee on their suggestions in their presentation for the state pageant.

“One specific strategy is that we work with the girls and ask their view of their strengths and weakness,” he said. “We build upon the strengths and insightfully decide on how to improve the weakness, making it a positive. We then work with the young lady to ensure she feels that she has left no stone unturned prior to going to Miss Georgia. This ranges in every field of competition from interview, swimsuit, fitness, talent and evening attire.”

In addition to prepping the girls for state, the board also offers numerous public appearances, which allows the queens to serve the community and helps build confidence both on and off the stage, Johnson said.

“We try to have the girls go out in the local schools reading, judging, emceeing. … We build a relationship with the community by being present at events such as the parade, meeting the mayor and council and the county commissioner … being available to our sponsor and emceeing local middle school and high school pageants, and serving as motivational speakers at events locally and/or performing their talents,” he said. “We try to ensure that the girls have every opportunity to serve as our wonderful city’s ambassadors.”

The Miss Warner Robins/Miss International City Pageant and the Outstanding Teen Pageants will be held July 23, according to Johnson, and will include the crowning of the 60th Miss Warner Robins. Anyone interested in participating in the pageants can go to the website at misswarnerrobins.org for more information. The Warner Robins Princess pageant will be held July 16, and applications are also on the website.

This story was originally published June 12, 2016 at 4:33 PM with the headline "Warner Robins board shares key ingredients for pageant success."