The famous Miss America song describes beauty queens “who are more than pretty.”
Monique Evans, a University of Texas at Austin student who is competing for the crown as the reigning Miss Texas, is a nutritional sciences senior and is applying to medical schools to become an osteopathic physician in preventative and integrated medicine.
Being Miss America:
Behind the Rhinestone Curtain
The University of Texas Press published this month Being Miss America: Behind the Rhinestone Curtain by Kate Shindle, who earned the Miss America title in 1998 after competing as Miss Illinois.
Shindle’s book “illuminates both the challenges and the opportunities that keep young women competing to become Miss America” while exploring the pageant’s balance between “beauty and brains as it tries to remain relevant to women who aspire to become leaders in the community, not hot babes in swimsuits.”
The New York Times profiled the book, which has a nearly 4.5 stars ranking on Amazon, and praised it for being “a history and analysis of the Miss America Organization, for better and for worse.”
The pageant recognized Evans’s academic ambitions and named her one of 10 finalists to receive a $5,000 scholarship to continue education in STEM or science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields.
[Learn about programs for future health professionals at UT Austin.]
Evans, a 22-year-old from Austin, decided to pursue a STEM career in preventative medicine after her father survived a heart attack he had while jogging. That incident, along with her brother’s being born with a heart condition, prompted her to fight for heart-healthy lifestyles.
Under her “Remember Your Heart: One Beat at a Time,” campaign, Evans encourages people to exercise, eat better and learn about both risks and preventative measures. She’ll take that message to the national stage during the pageant, making it her platform issue alongside her talent, ballet en Pointe.
Evans promises to “show a Hook ‘Em sign loud and proud” during the pageant, and Longhorns faithful can help Evans be a finalist for the crown by voting for her to be America’s Choice before the poll closes Thursday at 10:59 p.m. (Texas time).
The Miss America 2015 competition airs Sunday, September 14, live on ABC at 8 p.m., when the eyes of the country and not just Texas will be upon Evans.
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Student @MoniqueEvansTX is competing for the #MissAmerica crown, & the pageant put her in top 10 for #STEM education: http://t.co/m9LEdicTeK
— UT Austin (@UTAustin) September 11, 2014
