Miss South Dakota and USD junior Morgan Peck is preparing to compete in the Miss America Pageant, in hopes of becoming the first Miss South Dakota to win the crown.
Peck, a member of Pi Beta Phi who is majoring in political science and economics, is in Las Vegas getting ready to compete in the national pageant. She will be there until Jan 30, the final night of competition.
Peck will be judged in five categories: personal interview, talent, lifestyle and fitness in swimsuit, eveningwear and an onstage question.
All the areas of the competition are important, but the interview is where the judges really narrow down the field, Peck said.
‘You have to make a bold impression and show them your personality at the same time that you are answering a question completely in about 24 seconds,’ she said.
Along with practicing for her interviews, Peck said she has to work on the little things too.
‘You also have to practice your walk, the poses for swimsuit and evening gown … it looks so natural when you watch it on TV, but there is almost nothing natural about (the pageant). It’s very much calculated,’ she said.
Peck said every move the contestants make is planned.
Before earning her titles as Miss USD and later Miss South Dakota, Peck said she had reservations about pageant competition.
‘I had seen the posters for (Miss USD) before but I was too scared to actually sign up,’ she said.
However, after winning the talent competition and receiving runner-up honors at the Miss Sioux Empire Fair pageant in summer 2008, she set her eyes on becoming Miss USD. Her success continued in that competition, earning her the crown, which she eventually exchanged when she became Miss South Dakota last June.
Former contestants Peck has talked to have said being Miss South Dakota didn’t define their lives but certainly changed them.
‘Without the experience (of being Miss South Dakota) they never would have met a certain person who introduced them to someone else who got them a job or helped them along the way,’ she said.
Peck has been busy the last seven months hosting several pageants, participating in both USD and SDSU’s homecoming events and performing the national anthem at both the Dakota Bowl in Sioux Falls and before a Minnesota Vikings game last October. She visited several county fairs to promote her platform, ‘Getting Involved in Government Locally,’ as well.
Peck believes getting involved with local government is important.
‘A lot of people are intimidated by people they only recognize as a name on a ballot, but these people make decisions that affect everyone’s lives in a community so you should talk to them about your concerns,’ she said.
Junior Nikki Rasmussen, a member of the same pledge class at Pi Beta Phi as Peck, said her sorority sister is the perfect person to represent USD and South Dakota in the pageant.
‘Morgan is very intelligent and very poised. She has a great platform and is very passionate about what she is doing,’ Rasmussen said.
She said she and her other sorority sisters are excited to watch her compete on Saturday, but are mainly just proud of her accomplishments thus far.
Besides the glitz, glamour and the shiny crown, Peck said she also had financial motives behind her choice to begin competing in pageants.
Peck said she talked with a contestant who, although had never won the pageant, by competing in it for several years had earned more than $24,000 in scholarship aid.
In 2008, $21,100 was given out to contestants in the Miss South Dakota pageant. To support the scholarship program, the organization receives donations from sponsors and also holds fundraising events.
Reach reporter Mike Buechler at Mike.Buechler@usd.edu.
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