Just when she thought her days of mock interviews and frozen smiles were over, senior Erica Williams, runner-up at the Miss College Park 2005 pageant, received a phone call that would shake up her routine for the next year.
For the first time in the pageant’s 14-year history, Miss College Park had handed over her tiara to pursue another opportunity. Williams, the next in line for the title, would take her place and go on to compete in the upcoming Miss Maryland pageant.
“I had moved on, gotten my congratulations and gone back to class,” Williams said. “Now I’m looking forward to competing for Miss Maryland.”
Williams, a first-time pageant competitor, was officially crowned at a reception Saturday for her family and friends.
Lisa Taylor, a student at the Peabody Conservatory of Music, won the pageant on March 5 but resigned six days later after she got a job as a soloist with the U.S. Coast Guard Band.
“One of the main purposes of the pageant is scholarship money, and since I’m leaving school this year to join the military, most things I would need will be covered by them,” Taylor said. “I will also be in Connecticut, and I knew that Erica would be right here, so I couldn’t take that opportunity away from her.”
In her first month as Miss College Park, Williams has kept busy promoting her platform as a youth mentor and preparing for the Miss Maryland 2005 pageant in June. She also works 36 hours a week at a spa and is a full-time student. Williams received $2,300 from competing in the pageant to help pay for her education; $2,000 for the top prize, $200 for top interview and $100 for best newcomer.
Williams plans to graduate in May with a degree in Afro-American studies and said she has plans to eventually attend graduate school.
Angie Rodriguez, executive director of the pageant, said she thinks Williams has a strong chance of being crowned Miss Maryland this summer.
“People may think that just because we don’t have our first contender that we don’t have a shot at this,” she said. “But we really have a secret force here.”
Williams said she will work full time after she graduates but will focus more of her attention on preparing for the pageant by exercising, fund raising and promoting her platform, which is to educate youth on decision-making skills.
