Best of Luck to the Miss Bay Village Program!

Tonight in Bay Village a brand new Miss Ohio local will take place. The pageant will begin at 7 p.m. in Bay High School's auditorium. At the last minute the scheduled photographer canceled; I had other plans but since I'm a softy for pageants I'll be attending to take pictures instead. I'm no professional, but am better than nothing! I will post results from my phone as soon as my camera duties are done.*

The following nine women will vie for the inaugural crown:

Jen Ciccone has a Bachelor's degree in PR and Marketing from Mercyhurst College and is now a second year student at Ave Maria School of Law. She will sing "For Good" from the Broadway hit Wicked and her platform is "Be the Change: Be a Buddy Not a Bully." This is her first MAO local, but she has previously competed at Miss Ohio USA.

Sherry El Sakr became my Facebook "friend" a couple weeks ago, but now her profile has been removed. I don't recall her school or major, just that she's from Cleveland. I do remember that the only pageant-talent-type hobby listed was dancing.

Krystle Formosa won the Americanism essay award at Miss Ohio last year as Miss South Central Ohio. She's a vocalist who often sings "Think of Me" from Phantom of the Opera. Krystle studies Fashion Merchandising at Kent State University; her platform is "serving children for a better tomorrow." This season she's been First Runner-up and Talent winner at Ohio Valley and competed at North Coast and Maple City.

Hollie Hongosh attends Wittenberg University where she studies International Relations and French. Her platform is "bringing the world home." This is her second MAO local, having been Second Runner-up and Talent winner recently at Miss Maple City, singing "Mein Herr Marquis," aka "The Laughing Song" from Strauss' opera Die Fledermaus.

Alicia Huyghe studies Biology and Dance Education at Cleveland State University. She is a tap dancer who advocates "Going Green" as her pageant platform. Last season she was Fourth Runner-up at Miss Mansfield; this season she has competed at several locals.

Jackie Jerlecki is a Musical Theatre student at Bowling Green State University (Go Falcons!). She is a vocalist who promotes arts in schools. 'Jackie' narrowly missed competing at Miss Ohio last year, placing First Runner-up at Miss Central and the first Sweeps pageant. She was First Runner-up yet again at Maple City three weeks ago.

Ashley Miller is a former Miss Ohio's Outstanding Teen. She is a vocalist and student at the University of Rio Grande. Her platform deals with drug prevention. This season she placed Third Runner-up at Miss Portsmouth/Scioto Valley and competed in Maple City.

Maria Minnick is a freshman at the University of Toledo and a jazz dancer. Having been the Lucas County Fair Queen, her platform is "Getting Youth Involved within the 4-H Community." I believe this is her fourth MAO local.

Emily Pheils is a Marketing and Popular Culture student at Bowling Green State University (Go Falcons!). Her platform is the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty and this 19 year old will sing. Emily is active in National American Miss pageants and Miss America locals.

Best of luck to everyone and as always, comment or emails with updates and corrections.

* I don't want to answer the question "I thought you were in LA?" a thousand times at the pageant, so let me explain here:
Since last April I've shared an apartment in Los Angeles with Leah D'Emilio and my car and most of my wardrobe are there, but my love and major parts of my life are still here in Ohio. I am very much part-time in both locations. I by no means lead a glamorous get-setting life; it is very lonely when I'm in LA and equally stressful in Ohio. Between auditions and these uncertain economic times, it's difficult schedule anything - short or long term. As for my job, in addition to auditioning, I work as a tour guide at Universal Studios where getting shifts hinges on tourist, so this time of year I'm not missing any.