Every spring and summer across the country hundreds of young women prepare themselves to compete for one of the nation’s most coveted titles: Miss America. They prepare for that title by competing in one of the fifty-two state pageants to earn a spot in the national contest. Fourteen young women have their sights set on the Miss Nevada title this year. Four of these ladies are member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and they all feel that winning this title will help them become better people and more able to serve others.

In order to earn a place in Miss Nevada, they first had to compete in a local pageant in one of many Nevada areas. Tiffany Yanke is Miss North Las Vegas, Maryn Russell is Miss Centennial Hills (Las Vegas area), Charisse Guthrie is Miss Mesquite, and Melisa Click is Miss Fallon.

Like its parent organization, Miss Nevada is a scholarship competition, in which contestants are judged on many different levels. The competition is broken down into four main categories—talent, interview, evening gown, and swimwear. Talent carries the most weight in the overall score. This year’s competition will be close. Miss Nevada veteran, 24-year-old Russell and first timers Guthrie and Click will sing, while Yanke, also a newcomer, will dance. Talent is judged on difficulty of performance, as well as skill.

The interview portion determines the contestants’ poise and public speaking abilities. Miss Nevada is not only a contestant in Miss America, but also acts as the official hostess of the State of Nevada and will be required to speak at several events. “It’s not just about who’s the prettiest or skinniest,” said Russell. They must also be an excellent spokesperson.

The evening gown and swimwear competition measure the women’s overall confidence onstage as well as physical fitness. In order to prepare for the competition, all four women said they exercise daily.

The most important part of the competition is the focus on community service. The contestants are not judged on this, but they are required to choose a social issue in which they must take an active role to improve.

18-year-old Melisa Click, for example, chose to help children facing emotional abuse. “We need to provide counseling and support to the community,” she said. “There’s help out there for children dealing with physical abuse, but everyone seems to forget about the emotional abuse.” The pageant provides an outlet for this and many other services in many communities throughout the state. Click, a new member of the Church, as of May 27, views her membership in the church, as well as her role as Miss Fallon, as opportunities to better serve her community.

Although some may say that pageants demean women, the contestants strive to prove otherwise. “You’ve got to know a pageant queen to know what it’s about,” says Yanke, age 19.

Charisse Guthrie, 18, admits that she used to be one of those who looked down on pageants. Since she began competing, she has seen the benefits. “It helps you appreciate who you are as a person and the potential you have,” she said.

In addition to the honor of being Miss Nevada, there are many exciting changes in the Miss America program that provide a little more incentive for the contestants this year. Since the Miss America Organization’s contract with the ABC network expired last year, CMT (Country Music Television) picked up the pageant and moved it from its longtime home in Atlantic City, New Jersey, to a temporary home in Las Vegas in January of this year. The preliminaries for the next competition will be this September in Los Angeles and the finals will be in an undetermined city at the beginning of next year.

The exciting part is that the contestants will be featured on a reality show called “Finding Miss America” on the CMT network, which, the network hopes, will give the organization more exposure. For the first time in history, viewers will get to know the contestants more intimately before the final competition. And the audience will be able to vote for the contestants who will go to the finals.

Aside from all the changes, the spirit of the competition stays the same. Maryn Russell, who will be competing in her last Miss Nevada pageant this year, said it best, “Because I’ve been competing so long, I have made so many friends that I wouldn’t have met any other way. It has touched my life to serve others. I want everyone to be in this program because it is so amazing.”

The Miss Nevada Pageant will be held on July 15 at 6:00 p.m. at the Casa Blanca Resort in Mesquite, Nevada. For tickets and other information, visit www.missnevada.org.