MISS TEEN USA UPDATES
Saturday, August 16
Miss Florida Teen USA’s 2004 & 2008
Saturday
in the Bahamas
The
nation’s finest teenagers began the competition at this year’s Miss Teen
USA championships last night as it was Preliminary Pageant time in Atlantis.
Fifty-one delegates hit the stage all in pursuit of the national title as the
competition began. Hosted by Hillary Cruz in the Atlantis Grand Ballroom a
loud and boisterous crowd greeted the delegates and the pageant was on!
The
show started with all of the delegates in their matching aqua outfits as the
delegates introduced themselves and modeled on the runway. After a brief
opening set-scene that introduced our host’s it was time for the swimsuit
competition. For the first time each delegate competed in a suit of their own
choosing. Then it was quickly onto the Evening Gown competition to complete
the evening.
After
the show it was a massive meet and greets featuring all of the delegates and
the audience attendees. Some great photo opportunities presented themselves as
the Florida Teen USA contingent went twenty deep. When the crowd settled in
the foyer outside the ballroom our Miss Florida Teen USA Jillian Wunderlich
held court with friends, family and support team. Our titleholder looked
fantastic last night and felt great about her performance. She was also
cheered on by our last two Miss Florida USA’s as both Jessica Rafalowski and
Anastagia Pierre were in the house to support their “little sister”.
After saying goodnight it was off to her room as a big Saturday awaited the delegates. The judge’s interviews began this morning at nine and then the delegates will hit the rehearsal room for the remainder of the day. The weather is beautiful and everybody is ready to find out the results of the competition. Of course we will give you the behind the scenes result tomorrow. From your friends at Miss Florida USA as we continue the only report live from our national championship of Teenage Pageantry!
Team
Envy is in the house!
Hillary
Cruz meets our preliminary Teen USA titleholders
Ms.
Pierre and Ms. Rafalowski before the show &
Ms.
Pierre with our Miss USA
Julia
Dalton, Miss North Carolina Teen USA 2008,
Caroline
Lunny, Miss Massachusetts Teen USA 2008,
and Jillian Leigh Wunderlich, Miss Florida Teen USA 2008,
perform
during the Presentation Show
Miss
Wunderlich in the Gown Competition
Miss
Wunderlich with Assistant Pageant Director Jenna and Ms. Rafalowski
Getting
silly with Shelly Henning Miss Teen USA 2004
Getting to Know Miss Massachusetts Teen USA
With a Gillette Stadium
fundraising party slated and a beauty pageant in the Bahamas soon to follow,
17-year-old Caroline Lunny furiously packed some of her belongings recently.
"I'm going completely crazy," said the reigning Miss Massachusetts
Teen USA, who leaves Monday for a shot at becoming the first Bay State
resident to take the national title. "But it's a good kind of
crazy."
Lunny won her current crown in November,
entering her first beauty contest on a whim after a recruiter for another
pageant approached her on Martha's Vineyard. Given her desire to be an
actress, "I thought it would be great stage experience," the
soon-to-be high school senior said.
Only hoping to avoid elimination on the
opening night of the two-day contest, Lunny ended up winning. Since then, she
has embarked on a whirlwind tour of public appearances, worked out with a
personal trainer and cut down on her intake of junk food ahead of the evening
gown and swimsuit competition portions.
Lunny's parents have also hired a consultant to prepare their daughter for the contest's interview section, a move pageant officials suggested for the more polished national stage. "It's almost like improv," Lunny said of the training.
Her mother, Kate Lunny, said it had been a
learning experience for the whole family. "We've gotten a crash course in
pageants," she said.
With Miss Teen USA officials announcing the
schedule and the location for the national contest at the beginning of July,
Kate Lunny said she and her daughter have been scrambling to prepare. With
only three weeks planning, they held a fundraiser for more than 200 people at
Gillette Stadium in Foxborough.
Some of the money will be used to pay for
pageant travel expenses. The majority will go to Homes for the Troops, a
charity that adapts homes for disabled soldiers and Best Buddies, an
organization that pairs young mentors with disabled peers. The 17-year-old has
connections to both groups, with a cousin who was killed fighting in
Afghanistan and time spent as a Best Buddy volunteer.
Though aware of some of the national prizes -
a scholarship to film school, for example - the Holliston beauty queen says
she is attempting to stay as relaxed for the Bahamas contest as she was for
the state competition. "I'm trying to have the same mindset," she
said. "I'm trying not to get my hopes up and be disappointed.
Assessing the field of 50 state entrants,
plus one from Washington, D.C., the teenager summed up her chances.
"Well, its one out of 51," she said.
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