You can call it a “pageant,” if you like, Vickie Trickett said.
However, it’s just not the kind you may be thinking of, said Trickett, who helps plan social activities and other outreach at Elks Lodge 411 in Morgantown.
“We’re calling this an ‘event,’” she said, “because, really, that’s what it is.”
An event all about self-esteem and growing — both under the lights and in front of an audience.
The first-ever Miss Amazing West Virginia event — and pageant — will be 4 p.m. today at the lodge on Chestnut Ridge Road.
Miss Amazing is nationally headquartered in Omaha, Neb. The nonprofit has chapters in 36 states and West Virginia is one of the newest ones to join the network.
Ten women and girls from across the region facing various challenges will take the stage for an afternoon and evening of interviews, personal introductions and talks about themselves and their place in society.
To get on that stage, persons must have an Individual Education Plan in school, or an IEP, as the designation is known.
Or Supplemental Security Income — SSI — due to their circumstances.
Other participants present with physician records marking a disability — not that it is considered a mark while on stage, said Lacey Rae, who directs the Miss Amazing chapter in West Virginia.
Visit www.MissAmazing.org for more about the program.
Signing on was easy, Rae said. As a young girl in Pennsylvania, she came up participating in pageants.
As an occupational therapist, she sees many of her clients stare down a variety of physical and cognitive challenges on a daily basis.
Growing up, she knew what it was like staring at herself in the mirror everyday. She was poised and confident — except when she wasn’t.
“It’s not easy being a girl sometimes,” she said.
“And if you’re one with some challenges, that’s a double whammy,” she said.
Miss Amazing, the director said, is about shining under the lights.
Trickett, of course, agrees.
She worked 30 years as an event planner at WVU, and, as said, does the same now for the Elks Lodge.
Today’s event won’t be a one-time thing for her.
After the organization secured the lodge for the evening, she started doing some research — then signed on herself, as event planner for the chapter and all Miss Amazing activities sure to follow across the state.
“I was impressed and moved by the mission,” she said.
“This is about confidence. It’s empowerment.”
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