By By KEVIN SCOTT CUTLER
Lifestyles & Features Editor
Two Beaufort County women are taking the first steps on the path to being crowned Miss America 2011.
Gabrielle “Gabby” Brown and Leslie LaVictoire are among the contestants vying for the Miss Eastern Carolina title this weekend. The pageant, a preliminary in the Miss America system, will be held at 7 p.m. Saturday in the Doug Mitchell Auditorium of the Ayden Arts and Recreation Building, located at 4354 Lee St. in Ayden.
The pageant’s 10 contestants will compete in personal interviews with the judges, physical fitness in swimsuit, evening gown, talent and onstage question.
Brown, the 21-year-old daughter of Billy and Lisa Brown of Pinetown, is a 2007 graduate of Terra Ceia Christian School. A seasoned competitor, she’s participated in nearly 10 pageants since the age of 15. Locally, she was crowned Miss Independence 2005 during Belhaven’s July 4 celebration. She also held the titles of Majestic Princess of Pitt County and queen of the North Carolina Forest Festival.
For the talent competition, Brown will sing “Defying Gravity” from the Broadway musical “Wicked.”
“I enjoy doing the more modern songs over the traditional, but I do have experience in opera and your classical Broadway,” Brown said of her talent selection.
To prepare for the pageant, Brown said, she’s “staying in the gym a lot” and reading the newspaper on a more regular basis.
“I’ve kind of turned into a political nerd,” she said with a laugh. “I’ve really become opinionated while studying current events.”
Brown said her pageant participation wouldn’t be possible without her parents.
“I want to thank them for their support, their time and their money,” she said. “My dad has approved all my outfits, and my mom has become my wardrobe consultant.”
Speaking of wardrobe, Brown described her evening gown as “very different.”
“I wanted to try something unique and different,” she said. “I hope to set a trend with it.”
Each contestant in the Miss America system — from the local to the state to the national level — espouses a cause she adopts as her personal platform. Brown’s is Eat Smart, Move More NC.
“That goes along with my major at school, and it’s something I have a passion for,” said Brown, a junior majoring in exercise physiology and health-fitness specialist at East Carolina University.
Win or lose Saturday evening, Brown is determined to achieve her goal of placing in the top 10 at the Miss North Carolina Scholarship Pageant before she “ages out” at 24. If she doesn’t win the Miss Eastern Carolina crown this weekend, she wants to try her luck in two other upcoming local pageants, Miss Greater Cape Fear and Miss Spivey’s Corner, both of which are “open” competitions that accept contestants from across the state.
Like Brown, LaVictoire is a pageant veteran. The 21-year-old daughter of Dr. Robert LaVictoire and Catherine Good of Washington, she was named Tri-County’s Junior Miss while in high school and received a fitness award during the North Carolina’s Junior Miss state program. She also twice competed for the Miss Independence crown, winning second runner-up and talent her first year and placing first runner-up the second time.
But, like Brown, Miss Eastern Carolina is her first attempt in the Miss America system.
“A friend of mine, Elizabeth Maroules, is the current Miss Eastern Carolina, and she encouraged me to do this,” said LaVictoire, a 2007 graduate of Washington High School. “The scholarships they offer are a big incentive. And it goes back to every little girl wants to be Miss America.”
Now a junior at ECU, where she is majoring in health-services management and minoring in business, LaVictoire is balancing school with preparing for the pageant.
“I’ve been tanning and working out to get ready for the swimsuit competition,” she said. “And I’ve been working on my talent, which is a lyrical dance to ‘At Last.’”
Shopping, too, has occupied a good deal of her time. She’s particularly proud of her evening gown, which she described as fully beaded and teal in color.
Aside from the glamour and glitz involved in competing in a pageant, LaVictoire said she wants to be a positive role model for young girls. And she’s passionate about her personal platform, titled “SO G.I.V.E. (Special Olympics: Get Involved &Volunteer Enthusiastically).
“My main thing is helping people know how to become involved,” LaVictoire said. “I’ve been involved as a volunteer with Special Olympics for more than 10 years because my little brother, Perry, has cerebral palsy. He’s been such an inspiration to me.”
LaVictoire said if she doesn’t win the Miss Eastern Carolina title, she’d be interested competing again.
“I probably won’t compete at another pageant this year, but I would do this one again,” she said. “I know you can compete in other local pageants, but I like the idea of representing the area where I live.”
The Miss Eastern Carolina Scholarship Pageant is open to contestants who reside or attend school in Beaufort, Pitt, Martin, Lenoir, Craven, Carteret and Pamlico counties. The winner will compete for the title of Miss North Carolina in Raleigh this summer.
For more information, visit www.easterncarolinapageants.com.
Did you know?
• The first Miss North Carolina to represent the state at the Miss America Pageant was Charlotte’s Ruth Covington in 1937. She was second runner-up in the national contest.
• The only Miss North Carolina to win the Miss America crown was Maria Fletcher, who held the 1962 title.
• Four winners of the state pageant finished as first runner-up to Miss America. They were Constance Dorn in 1972, Susan Lawrence in 1975, Michelle Warren in 1997 and Kelli Bradshaw in 1998.
• The first — and thus far, only — African-America to win Miss North Carolina was Deneen Graham in 1983. Lorna McNeill, a Native American, further broke ground for minorities when she was crowned Miss North Carolina in 2000.
• North Carolina has let two future Miss Americas slip through its fingers. Marjorie Vincent, later Miss Illinois and Miss America 1991, was a runner-up to Miss North Carolina as Miss Durham-Orange County in 1990. Kimberly Aiken was a runner-up in a N.C. local pageant before winning in her home state of South Carolina; she then became Miss America 1994.