Even as Rachel Tripp made the decision to participate in the 2014 Miss SC Pageant, she wasn’t sure how she felt about it.
“I always thought that pageants were just makeup and dresses and I kind of had a negative stereotype. But now I realize that these pageants are a great outlet for girls to become well-rounded young women,” Tripp, a fourth-year broadcast journalism student said. “I would really encourage people to be a part of this organization even if you’re a first-timer, like me, or you just want to go and do it one time because it definitely opened my eyes.”
Tripp was one of three USC students who participated in the most recent Miss SC Pageant. Tripp, Miss Hilton Head Island, and placed in the top 15.
“I was really proud of that for being a first timer of this pageant beating some of the girls who had been doing it for years and grew up doing pageants,” Tripp said. “So I was very happy with myself and very pleased.”
Tripp decided to take part in the pageant because she had been encouraged to her entire life and thought this year was the perfect time.
“People had urged me to do pageants my whole entire life because I grew up singing and I have a very musical family. So I’ve always been a performer, and talent is the biggest portion of the score when you’re doing the Miss America organization,” Tripp said. “I finally gave in to doing it after so many people urged me to. I thought ‘why not?’”
When Tripp won the Miss Hilton Head Island pageant, her first competition, she was “shocked.” Luckily, she had plenty of help before the statewide pageant.
“I had a great support system and a great team through the Miss Hilton Head Island organization. Being a first time competitor they held my hand every step of the way and coached me, making me into this pageant girl I didn’t know much about,” Tripp said. “Those people I now consider some of my lifelong friends that I will treasure forever, and I’ve really gotten some friendships.”
Taylor Kuykendall, Miss Colleton County Rice Festival, and Amanda Bishop, Miss Walterboro, also competed.
Even though Kuykendall, a fourth-year HRTM student, followed in her pageant mother’s footsteps and has been participating in pageants since age three, she was nervous about coming into this pageant.
This year was her first “Miss” pageant, and she expected it to be a “scary, long week.” She never expected that she would have more confidence in this pageant than she ever had in the past.
“It was an amazing experience, honestly. Going into it I thought it was going to be so stressful, that it was just going to be a week of rehearsing and getting ready for a stressful night of the pageant, but it wasn’t,” Kuykendall said. “It was actually probably the least stressful pageant I’ve ever done. I’ve met so many people and so many friends that I can have for a lifetime.”
The girls competed in the preliminary pageants in January and worked to prepare until the pageant took place during the last week of June. They spent the majority of their time raising money for the Children’s Miracle Network, raising awareness for their platform and showing South Carolina who they are.
“I had to do all of those things along with being a full-time student at USC with a normal course load and all of my extracurricular activities that I do here,” Tripp said. “It was just very stressful and it was sometimes very hard to manage and balance my time to get everything done.”
Tripp focused her time on Legacy of Hope: Children Co-Survivors of Cancer. A child co-survivor is a child who has a parent with cancer and helps them fight their battle emotionally. When Tripp was 13, her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, so this was a topic she could relate to.
“I was a child co-survivor and I know what it felt like to have that parent going through cancer, so I really wanted to help that specific group to help them in ways that I wasn’t helped,” Tripp said.
Through working on her platform, Tripp because certified to be a co-survivor counselor, meaning she could lead a support group at a local hospital as long as she had a physician or nurse with her as a mentor.
Kuykendall’s platform, Ahead of the Curve: Scoliosis Awareness, was also an issue that was close to her heart. Kuykendall was diagnosed with scoliosis after a sports physical at 17, and it was the first time the spinal problem had ever been detected in her.
“It was an experience that really I needed to share about because I was to the point of scoliosis where I was going to have surgery and never did. Now I have a lot of back problems and I am always having some type of pain in my back, and I wanted to get the word out there,” Kuykendall said. “Early detection will help children not go through the same thing I’ve been through. And I definitely don’t want children to go through that.”
The pageant itself consists of swimsuit, evening gown, talent and on-stage question. An interview during the preliminary round is also a big portion of the score, but it is not part of the final, televised round.
For Kuykendall, the hardest part is on-stage question.
“You have to keep up with politics and you have to keep up with what’s going on in the world today. You never know what the judges are going to ask you and you never know what to expect,” Kuykendall said. “You just have to think fast and think on your toes and let them know that you know the answer.”
Both girls agree that the best part of the Miss America organization is the networking opportunities and friendships it gave them.
Kuykendall was actually competing against her big, Bishop, in the sorority she had previously been a part of.
“Going in there, it was just like we were just really good friends and that nothing was going to come between us, and throughout the week my mind didn’t change at all,” Kuykendall said. “We actually hung out every day, we talked almost every single day, we got to dance [with] each other. It was a blast being with her. There was no competition whatsoever and getting to experience that with her, and also getting to experience so many other things with her throughout school, was awesome.”
Kuykendall said that if she could do it all again with Bishop next to her, she would.