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Junior Miss makes most of her win
Clemmons girl discovers friends and memories at Mobile in competition
Journal Photo by Bruce Chapman
Charli Mills will study music at Appalachian State University this fall.
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Published: July 3, 2009
CLEMMONS - Charli Mills, North Carolina's Junior Miss, spent most of 2009 preparing for the America's Junior Miss program held each June in Mobile, Ala.
What she was not prepared for was the extreme heat of the Mobile Bay area. The heat index was well over 100 degrees most of the days that the 50 state Junior Misses were in Mobile. Mills fell victim to minor heat exhaustion and dehydration one day and had to skip one night of festivities.
Otherwise, Mills said, she had an incredible experience, becoming immersed in local cultural activities while meeting high-achieving girls from all over the country. Kentucky's Junior Miss, Michelle Rodgers, won the title of America's Junior Miss.
"Even though I didn't win any of the national awards, I still had an excellent time,'' Mills said. "It was a lot of fun meeting girls from every state. We compared stores that we have and don't have, and our accents. These were 49 of the most amazing girls I've ever met."
For the past 50 years, North Carolina's Junior Miss program has sent a representative to the America's Junior Miss competition. Mills, 18, of Clemmons, is the daughter of Kim and Greg Mills; she returned from her two-week stay in Mobile this week.
Although the Junior Miss program contains elements of pageantry, organizers emphasize that it is a scholarship program for young women of high achievement. Utah's Lindsey Britton, 2008's America's Junior Miss, is studying biomedical engineering at Harvard University.
Donna Maynard, the communications chairwoman of the national program, said that the emphasis is to "be your best self."
"All young women who come through our doors are encouraged to follow this motto, not only as they go through the program, but to carry with them through the rest of their lives," Maynard said.
Mills said she first heard about the program through her mother. Because Forsyth County doesn't have a program of its own, Mills participated in an at-large competition, faring well enough to be named Forsyth County's Junior Miss and moving on to the state competition early this year.
There she won the title of N.C.'s Junior Miss, and a more substantial prize -- $13,000 in a college scholarship money.
At the national level, Mills competed for more than $50,000 in scholarship money.
She said she had most looked forward to being on stage, because she's been singing at church since she was 5. In Mobile, she performed "And This is My Beloved" from the musical Kismet.
To prepare for the national competition, Mills attended a "Junior Miss Boot Camp" in Brevard earlier this year. There, she met Junior Miss competitors from Virginia, Delaware, Idaho, Mississippi and Oklahoma at a camp taught by Dee Ann Allen, North Dakota's Junior Miss in 1969.
Besides working on her talent (also termed "self-expression''), Mills practiced for interviews. A competitive debate participant in the home-school leagues, Mills said she finds learning about current events and discussing them invigorating.
"I love politics. At one mock interview, one ‘judge' asked about the war in Iraq. I wasn't satisfied with my answer and came home and researched the topic,'' Mills said. "I didn't know he would be at my next practice. His very first question was that topic."
With the national competition over, Mills is preparing for her next challenge. She will attend Appalachian State University this fall to study music after being home-schooled since third grade.
"I would encourage girls in 10th and 11th grades to look into this program. It's a great experience," Mills said.
■ Monica Young can be reached at cyoung9@triad.rr.com.
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