Pageant winner travels to Miss America competition

While her classmates readied their backpacks for their third week of the new school year, Clovis North senior — and Miss California’s Outstanding Teen — Avery Grooms packed her suitcase for a week-long trip to Atlantic City to meet her Miss California counterpart.

“All the [Miss Outstanding Teens] are going,” Grooms said before last week’s flight to the Miss America competition. “I’m excited to see them again.”

Grooms watched Miss California, Bree Morse, compete in the pageant, which concluded Sunday.

The trip capped off a whirlwind summer of preparation and pageants.

The 17-year-old was crowned Miss California’s Outstanding Teen in June and flew to Orlando for the national competition — Miss America’s Outstanding Teen — in July. The pageant functions as the sister organization of Miss America and focuses on girls aged 13 to 17.

When Grooms stepped into the interview room at the national competition, she didn’t know what to expect. The topics could cover anything from current events to personal questions, social issues and a contestant’s platform issue.

“They asked me about immigration, Donald Trump and lots of pressing issues in the news,” Grooms said. “Someone asked me if I liked taking selfies.”

Grooms prepared by keeping up with current events and studying political issues, but rehearsing answers isn’t possible because of the broad topical range covered.

“You just kind of have to be yourself.” Grooms said.

Grooms is a newcomer to pageants, having competed for the first time in Miss Fresno County’s Outstanding Teen in March, at the urging of a friend. She would end up as first runner-up.

“It kind of just went from there,” Grooms said.

After coming in as first runner-up at Miss Fresno County’s Outstanding Teen, Grooms was appointed to the Miss Sierra Nevada’s Outstanding Teen title. That allowed her to participate in the California state competition, which required a local title as a requirement to compete.

At the state competition, Grooms beat out 42 contestants for the Miss California’s Outstanding Teen title and took home a $2,500 scholarship.

Though the contestants are competing for the same title, there is a lot of camaraderie among them, Miss Merced County’s Outstanding Teen Erika Bricky said.

“The bigger award comes from taking what you learned from the experience,” Bricky said. “What’s really important is the relationships you build and the experiences you have.”

Bricky believes that there are a lot of misconceptions about pageants.

“It is a lot more than looking pretty on a stage,” Bricky said. “You really have to carry yourself in a way that shows you’re a role model.”

At Clovis North, Grooms is involved in competition pep and student council. She also takes part in community theater, with her favorite role thus far being antagonist Miss Agatha Hannigan in a recent production of “Annie.”

“She’s mean,” Grooms said, laughing. “It was just a fun a role to play.”

After her graduation next spring, Grooms plans to attend school in Southern California and study film or art.

While Grooms may be a newcomer to pageants, her talent portion — a lyrical dance — was something she is an old hand at, having been a competitive dancer for years.

Grooms performed a lyrical dance to the song “Oceans” by Christian band Hillsong UNITED.

“I wanted to do a lyrical dance because that’s my favorite style,” Grooms said. “A lot of lyrical dances are kind of depressing so I tried to pick an upbeat song.”

For her platform issue, Grooms chose Food for Thought.

“The idea of it is to get people to realize how much food they do waste, and how many people really do need the food,” Grooms said.

Grooms refers to the national competition in Orlando as being one of the most rewarding experience she’s had this year.

The contestants were sequestered for the week of the national competition.

“They took away our phones for the week,” Grooms said. “So it kind of forced you to enjoy what’s around you and I feel like I made better friendships because of that.”

Miss New Hampshire’s Outstanding Teen, Allie Nault, won the competition and was crowned Miss America’s Outstanding Teen on Aug. 1.

Grooms encourages young girls considering competing in a pageant to give it a go.

“Win or lose, you’re still going to gain so much from the experience,” Grooms said. “You will grow and learn so much about yourself.”

She cites the communication skills as one particular area where contestants develop themselves.

“The pageant interview really helped me,” Grooms said. “That’s going to be harder than any job interview I ever have.”

Going forward, Grooms plans to do more appearances and events in her title as Miss California’s Outstanding Teen.

Her first appearance after being crowned Miss California’s Outstanding Teen was the Fourth of July parade in Redwood City.

“After that, we kind of just focused on preparing me for [Miss America’s Outstanding Teen],” Grooms said. “Now that I’m back we’ll be begin scheduling more appearances.”

“I’ve never grown this much as a person,” Grooms said. “I was able to push myself in a lot of different directions and did a lot of things I didn’t know I was capable of.”

This story was originally published September 15, 2015 at 5:13 PM with the headline "Pageant winner travels to Miss America competition."