Monticello Live

The Miss Arkansas Pageant will be held June 23 at the Hot Springs Convention Center. This year one of Monticello’s own will compete for the Miss Arkansas title of the Miss America preliminary pageant. Sarah Tucker holds the title of Miss Dogwood and is busy preparing for her chance at the crown. Here is her story.

Sarah’s parents are Gary and Beth Tucker. She and her family have lived in Monticello her whole life. She attended Monticello schools and graduated from MHS in 2006. She now attends the University of Arkansas where she received vocal and academic scholarships. She plans to major in Speech Pathology.

Sarah has not always competed in pageants. Her mother steered her away from competing when she was younger to protect her from the disappointment that comes with beauty pageants. When Sarah was 13 she talked her family into letting her enter the Petite Miss Drew County Pageant. She was crowned the winner and that sufficed her until she was 17. Then she entered the Teen Miss Arkansas preliminary pageants in Monticello and Star City. She placed 1st runner-up for Teen Miss Monticello. She received 1st place in Miss Teen Star City and secured her spot for Miss Teen Arkansas. The Miss Teen Arkansas Pageant is in conjunction with the Miss Arkansas Pageant. Sarah got a taste of the excitement of the state pageant in the Summer of 2005 where she placed in the top 10 and won Most Photogenic.

In the fall of that year, Sarah was crowned Miss Drew County. She represented our area in the Miss Arkansas State Fair Queen Pageant. She won the overall interview in the Southeast District and placed 2nd runner-up in the final pageant.

Sarah came to a point in her life where she did not want to pursue pageants but to focus on school and going to college. She quickly adjusted to college life. She does well in her classes and is a member of Lambda Chi Alpha Sorority. It was her sorority that encouraged her to enter another pageant. Lambda Chi nominated her as their representative for the Miss Sorority Pledge Queen Pageant where she placed 1st runner-up. The judges at the sorority pageant noticed Sarah’s talent and encouraged her to compete in the Miss Arkansas preliminary pageant in the Fayetteville area that would be held the following week. Sarah took the challenge, prepared for the pageant in several short days and won the title of Miss Dogwood.

Sarah’s title, Miss Dogwood, may be from northwest Arkansas but her heart is from down south. The people of Monticello have been so supportive of Sarah and her upcoming pageant. Last week Sarah along with her family and friends hosted a dinner theater. The fabulous food was prepared by Paul Smith and Jean Alexander. The audience of close to 200 people were entertained by some of our local talent. There was a silent auction with items provided from different businesses in town. Many Monticellonians who believe in Sarah helped make the event a success. The money that was raised will help Sarah with the expenses that come with the Arkansas pageant. She is so thankful for the support of her home town and plans to use the money to buy her evening gown, interview outfit, voice lessons and interview coaching.

To compete in the Miss Arkansas pageant the contestant must come prepared with a platform they deem important. Sarah’s platform is voter apathy. If Sarah wins the title of Miss Arkansas she will use her platform to help educate young people she will meet through out her reign the importance of voting. Sarah feels so strongly about her platform that she is not waiting to get a crown before she shares her concerns. Sarah has personally helped register the last three senior classes of MHS to vote.

It is not a surprise that Sarah will sing as her talent at the upcoming pageant. She is singing “If I Had My Way” by Linda Edder. This song was written as a tribute for the events of 9/11. Sarah feels the song shows patriotism and is beautiful. If Monticello has it their way Sarah deserves to be the next Miss Arkansas. She is beautiful inside and out. With or without a crown, she is a winner. One Monticello Life – Sarah Tucker.

With summer upon us and kids home, as well as other responsibilities crying out for more attention, we’re making the hard decision to scale MonticelloLive back over the summer. We will still be accepting submissions for stories and news releases, but we will not be actively covering news events until sometime in August.

Last month was the first month that our traffic decreased…. by 5 total hits. In May, the site saw 12,450 pageviews, down from 12,455 hits in April! We continue to be grateful for your participation and help in making MonticelloLive your community site.

We’re offering 50% off on all advertising during the summer months. Just look at the advertising page and figure 1/2 off. With between 400-500 hits per day, that is still the best ad money you can spend in the area. While we expect that traffic will decrease as posting is scaled back, you may want to seriously consider placing an ad with ML over the summer.

We also encourage you to send us news stories, announcements, engagements and wedding information. Your continued participation may provide the “fix” that some MonticelloLive addicts need to get through the summer! ;)

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