By Jolene FarleyWhen Brenda and Jayme Plimpton, Hills, attended this year’s Miss America Pageant they were rooting for Miss Nevada. Miss Nevada, Christina O’Neil, is Brenda’s niece. The competition was broadcast live Saturday, Sept. 20. Brenda and Jayme left for Atlantic City, New Jersey, on Wednesday, Sept. 17, and returned Sunday, Sept. 21.Christina, Carson City, entered the Miss Nevada pageant hoping to win scholarships to further her education. Her dream is to teach music at the university level. "That’s why she went into the competition, because it’s a scholarship competition," Brenda said.After hearing Christina had captured the Miss Nevada title, Brenda and Jayme immediately decided to attend the Miss America pageant. The duo became two of ten family members and friends Christina invited that were able to attend the pageant."It was just a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Jayme and I to do that alone," she said. Plimpton said when she was younger she admired the poise and intellect of the contestants. "People think of it as just a beauty pageant," she said. "But this (the pageant) is much, much more."Brenda and Jayme’s family passes allowed them to attend a Parent’s Breakfast on Thursday and to tour the backstage area of the pageant. They attended special events, rehearsals and the preliminary judging of the 51 women.Brenda said because of strict restrictions on contestants about whom they could talk to, they didn’t see the contestants offstage much. Brenda speculated the rules were due to safety precautions and a rigorous schedule. Friday was a parade on the Boardwalk. All the Miss America contestants in the parade wore shoes decorated to represent their states. Brenda said the tradition is to yell, "Show me your shoes," as the contestants go by.She also said they saw KELO television weatherman Shawn Cable several times during their trip. Cable and the South Dakota Survivor contestant, Mitchell, were in the parade. Saturday, before the final pageant, Brenda and Jayme attended a formal dance gala for parents and guests. Preparing for competitionAfter winning her title, Christina was sent to Utah by the Miss Nevada Organization to polish her image. She worked with a voice coach to streamline her opera performance for the talent portion of the contest. "They had to make her style a little more viewer friendly," Brenda said. "She dealt with trainers to sculpt her body… She spent weeks working with teams of people on the question-and-answer segment."It is ironic that Christina’s singing talent was discovered much earlier in her life during voice and speech lessons she took to improve her language skills. She was born with a cleft pallet and endured many surgeries to correct the problem, according to Brenda. Her vocal talent blossomed and she began singing opera, and later, became a music teacher. Christina’s platform issue for the pageant was ending teen dating violence, a cause that evolved from her work as a teacher in Carson City. "When I researched how students in this situation could get help, I was shocked to find a lack of information," Christina said in an earlier interview. "I decided to make a difference by providing these young people with information about dating violence."Although Christina didn’t win the pageant, Brenda described it as an amazing opportunity. "Truly, truly there are no losers because each contestant comes away with grand scholarship funds," Brenda said. Christina will have the opportunity to promote her platform and other causes in Nevada throughout her reign as Miss Nevada. Stormy weatherOne harrowing part of the trip was the onset of Hurricane Isabelle in Atlantic City, which closed down Thursday night because of the weather.Brenda and Jayme watched the Atlantic Ocean rise and "get pretty wicked" from their hotel on the ocean."It (the hurricane) threatened to cancel the parade," she said. Best part of the tripJayme said one of the highlights of the trip was watching American Idol runner-up Clay Aiken’s live performance. She also enjoyed visiting the ocean.Brenda liked seeing how the pageant was produced. "Being a part of the rehearsals was amazing," she said. "… How they do the cameras, just to watch the whole setup behind the scenes."
