{"id":4135,"date":"2005-03-24T00:00:00","date_gmt":"1970-01-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lesliedinaberg.com\/wordpress\/?p=4135"},"modified":"2017-07-14T16:02:38","modified_gmt":"2017-07-14T23:02:38","slug":"plotting-a-course-of-poise-pageantry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lesliedinaberg.com\/wordpress\/?p=4135","title":{"rendered":"Plotting a course of poise, pageantry"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Courtesy Pixabay.com.<\/p><\/div>\n

Melinda Radsliff sets sights on Miss Teen title<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The opportunity to win a share of $20,000 in scholarships and prizes was a temptation. And the fact there was no talent competition or requirement to strut in a swimsuit made it much more palatable for 19-year-old Santa Barbara City College student Melinda Radsliff to participate in the 2005 Miss Teen Santa Barbara pageant <\/a>competition on March 13.<\/p>\n

Radsliff first learned of the pageant when she got a letter in the mail that someone had referred her. She figured it was worth checking out the orientation.<\/p>\n

“I filled out an application, kind of as a whim,” said Radsliff, who then learned she had been accepted and that the pageant would provide a training class, which is unusual.<\/p>\n

“They kind of went through what day was going to be like,” she said.<\/p>\n

The ages of the contestants range from 10 to 19, with Radsliff competing in the Miss Teen Division.<\/p>\n

“The girls all seemed really excited about it,” said Radsliff, who was active in the city of Santa Barbara’s Youth Council<\/a> and ADAP (Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention Coalition) while attending La Cuesta Continuation High School and her first year of SBCC. Since she got too old for those activities, she has joined the women’s auxiliary group at her church and is considering applying for SBCC’s student senate.<\/p>\n

In order to qualify for the pageant, Radsliff participated in an interview session conducted by Patty Neidert, Santa Barbara pageant coordinator. While there are casual wear and formal wear modeling competitions, personality and interviewing skills are weighted heavily, which was attractive to Radsliff.<\/p>\n

“Personality is the number one aspect that each contestant is judged on during all phases of competition,” she said.<\/p>\n

The pageant winner will become Miss Teen Santa Barbara, and will represent Santa Barbara and the surrounding communities at the Cities Of America National Competition in Orlando, Fla. More than $60,000 in prizes and awards will be presented at the national competition while each winner enjoys an expense-paid trip of five nights and six days in Orlando.<\/p>\n

Montecito Landscape sponsored Radsliff’s pageant expenses.<\/p>\n

Originally published in South Coast Beacon on March 24, 2005.<\/a><\/h6>\n

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