Born and raised in our very own Cary, Illinois, senior Danielle Farmer is about to get a taste of a life much bigger than she’s used to. She will take hold of the spotlight as she is a 2014 state finalist in the annual Miss Illinois Teen USA pageant this weekend.
As intimidating as that sounds, Farmer plans to stay true to herself and her roots, not only to make her friends and family proud, but herself as well. This Cary-Grove Trojan varsity cheerleader will be walking down a runway in something a little fancier than her normal cheer uniform.
Some people may not know what such an event entails, but Farmer can shine some light on this.
“There are three parts that I will be judged on,” she said. “First, it is the interview, which will take place [Nov. 22], but that part is not on television. The second part is the swimsuit attire. Then lastly, we have an evening gown portion which will be my favorite part because I absolutely love my dress.”
Each of the events counts for 1/3 of each girl’s overall score, with each event scored on things such as “poise, personality, intelligence and beauty,” according to the pageant’s website.
In the end, it is a competition and there is only room for one final winner along with a few runner-ups. These lucky ladies will not only receive diamond jewelry but, more importantly, scholarship money for college. There are motivations other than prizes, too.
“I wanted to do this basically because I have never done anything like this before and it just looked so fun,” Farmer said.
Such an extravagant pageant shouldn’t be taken lightly, though, and involves a lot of time and effort on Farmer’s behalf.
“Well, so far the most exciting part would be learning the opening number dance and meeting some of the other girls in the pageant,” she said. “The hardest part, though, was getting sponsors because not many places want to help pageant girls, but I did it. I am so grateful to them all for sponsoring me throughout this entire process.”
Her sponsors aren’t the only ones who have helped Farmer through this journey, however.
“My family and friends have been awesome,” she said. “They were the ones that helped me a great deal with finding sponsors and helping me with interview questions. Basically, without their support, I don’t think I could even do this pageant.”
Whenever one watches a beauty pageant on television, whether Miss Illinois Teen or Miss Illinois, everything looks flawless. Such an environment could be intimidating to anyone who has never been involved in such an event before, but Farmer is only worried about one main thing.
“I’m really nervous about falling while walking down the steps in my heels,” she said. “Besides that, I’m not really nervous, just very excited for it.”
And on that note, you can tune in on Saturday, November 23, and Sunday, November 24, on NBC to watch our classmate hopefully not fall! Best of luck to Danielle Farmer; hopefully those heels are broken in enough from walking around in them at school.