Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive |
Ward wins!, Ward wins!, Ward wins!By John MillerPublished Wednesday, June 27, 2001 in the Nevada County Picayune It has long been said the third time is a charm. In most cases, this isn't the way things work, but for Jessie Nicole Ward, the third time was definitely a charm, as she was crowned Miss Arkansas in her third attempt for the title. She won the crown Saturday, June 16, in Hot Springs, beating out 47 other hopefuls. Last year, Ward competed in the Miss Texas Pageant, finishing 11th. Oddly, Ward had never finished in the top 10 in any of the three previous state pageant's she'd competed in. This, though, failed to get her down, as she "tweaked" her talent for the 2001 Miss Arkansas event. "Tweaked" probably isn't the right word in this case. Ward actually overhauled her talent, taking a gamble on tap dancing to a medley of Michael Jackson hits, including "Thriller," and "Billie Jean." The gamble paid off as Ward not only won the preliminary talent contest, but captured the overall talent portion of the pageant. This amounts to 40 percent of the score. Along with this, she won the much sought after Coleman Dairy Talent Award one of her goals before going to the pageant this year. Additionally, Ward took the interview portion of the pageant, which is 30 percent of the overall score. Even after winning these two events, Ward didn't relax or think she had the crown wrapped up. "You can still lose after winning talent and interview," she said. "There are a lot of little things you can lose points on." When tabbed as one of the five finalists, Ward, along with the others, was asked questions on-stage before the judges. Her two questions were: What is the book you and your mother writing about?, and What is the bottom line on school violence? Her answers were short and succinct, as she took less than a minute to respond. "When I went back stage after the questions," she said, "I thought that was quick'." Other contestants took several minutes to answer the questions they were asked. Again, the keep it simple method worked, as, when the final five were called back out on stage, Ward was bestowed with the crown. The major difference in this pageant and the other state pageant's she's been in was this time Ward was herself. "A lot of things made the difference," she said of winning the title, "but mostly I decided to be myself and do the best I could. I knew then even if I lost I'd done my best and would have been happy with myself. "I felt good about everything I did, and did what I thought was right." For the next year, Ward will travel the state as Miss Arkansas, appearing at different functions and events, while taking her message of school violence to students of all ages. The messages delivered will be age appropriate to the level of students she's talking to. For younger children, she said, the message will be about how to spot warning signs in their classmates and friends. A lot of the problem, Ward said, is children don't know who they can talk to about these things. Some think they shouldn't tell if they hear a fellow student talk about committing acts of violence. They should, she said, but a lot of children don't realize their teachers will take time to talk with them, as will school counselors. "There are a lot of people around who care," Ward said, "and the children just need to know where they can go." For high school students, the speech is different. This group, she said, is a tough crowd. Teens aren't much on being talked to, she said, they want to know what they can do about this problem. One thing they can do, she said, is to organize a SAVE group. SAVE stands for Students Against Violence Everywhere. Search | Nevada County Picayune by date | Gurdon Times by date |
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