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Pageants about more than pretty faces Print E-mail
Wednesday, 02 July 2008

Priscilla Garcia wants to empower young women to follow her example.

CATCHING UP

Who she is: Crowned Miss San Antonio 2008, Garcia, 22, will represent her hometown San Antonio in the Miss Texas 2008 pageant on July 5 in Fort Worth.

What she does: A senior at the University of Texas at San Antonio studying communications, Garcia hopes to pursue a career in broadcast journalism after she graduates next year.

Where she’s been: Garcia has been a member of the Positive Force Tour, the drug and alcohol awareness music and dance show created by Tejano singer Patsy Torres, since she was a 17-year-old student at Incarnate Word High School. She’s competed in several local talent competitions and state and local scholarship pageants.

On the pageant: Contestants must choose a platform — a community-service project that they promote throughout their reign — and a talent to perform. Garcia chose the platform of drug and alcohol education and awareness, and she plans to sing the Jessica Simpson song “Angels.”

What she’ll do next: Garcia’s reign as Miss San Antonio officially ends after the Miss Texas pageant. However, if she is crowned Miss Texas 2008, she will represent the Lone Star State in the Miss America pageant later this year.

For more: To see updates on how Garcia fares in preliminary competitions for the Miss Texas 2008 pageant and in the pageant itself, visit misstexas.org/info.html. The pageant is not scheduled to be televised.

To some, being in a beauty pageant that crowns winners with a sparkling tiara might not seem like the way to do that. But Garcia, who was crowned Miss San Antonio 2008, wants people to see the other side of pageants, the one that encourages education, community service and being a good role model.

“I started doing this for money for school,” Garcia, 22, said of the scholarship money awarded to pageant winners.

“I think we’re all well-rounded people,” she said, adding a contestant’s chosen talent and her interview skills with judges count the most toward determining a winner.

Garcia will represent San Antonio in the Miss Texas 2008 pageant on July 5 in Fort Worth. The pageant is part of the Miss America system, so the winner crowned that night will represent the Lone Star State in the Miss America pageant later this year.

“I know I’ll look back on this, and it will be the best year of my life,” Garcia said of her reign as Miss San Antonio, during which she has visited schools, served as part the Fiesta 2008 royalty and done countless hours of community service.

Melissa Rentería | 210SA contributor
 
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