By Christel Phiffer
“I really didn’t realize it was me until you put the crown on me and Bill kissed me,” said Susan Colwell, the new Miss TC.
This was the answer that I got from Susan when I asked her what her first thought was when her name was called as the new Miss TC.
Susan, who is a member of Phi Theta Kappa, sat directly in front of me at the interview. When asked if she thought the title of Miss TC would help her in future, she said that she thought it would certainly help her meet many interesting people.
“A pageant can only open doors for you,” commented Susan, “the rest is up to you.” She also said that the pageant helped her to overcome her shyness and she now feels a little more at ease around people.
The new Miss TC also has some definite ideas about TC. She said she feels that TC is a morning and weekday college. “If the school would schedule more classes in the afternoon and have student activities on the weekends, I think there would be a lot more school spirit.”
When asked about her ideas on the Women’s Lib movement, Susan replied, “I really don’t think too much of the movement, and I really can’t see how any girl in a pageant could be a strong libber. Pageants are strictly female and some women’s libbers don’t even consider themselves female.” She did state though that she thought women should be paid equal wages for equal jobs.
Reon Tinsley and Kim Dudley, first and second runners-up respectively, were also present at the interview. When asked what their first thoughts were before the went on stage opening night, Reon’s reply was “I can’t back out now; I have gotten this far and I have to go through with it.” Kim laughed at this reply and said she had been looking forward to the pageant and her last thought was “I hope I don’t disappoint my friends and relatives.”
Both Reon and Kim seemed to think the biggest lesson they learned from the pageant was how to get along with people. When I received this reply I asked them if they found it hard to work with 12 other women. Reon said she thought it would be hard, but as it turned out it was easy and fun. Kim said she was very surprised at the harmony of the group. “There seemed to be absolutely no jealousy among us and all had a good time.”
Many important facts and ideas came out in the interview with the three TC beauties but the girls seemed to agree that the most outstanding feature about the pageant was that everybody involved had “fun”.