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They address every issue brought up this year that I know of. It is long so click in to read
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Date Posted: 02:16:57 10/27/04 Wed
In reply to:
Now only Daytona Beach USA is in the sytem. Bad news, no Melbourne USA.
's message, "Daytona and Volusia Teen has left the system!" on 18:59:44 10/26/04 Tue
Statement from Directors
We wanted to take this time to address the many questions and assumptions about why we will not be affiliated with the Miss Florida Teen USA (and Miss Florida USA) pageant at this time. There are many reasons why we will not return this year so please bare with me, I would like to explain all of them.
First let me start by saying that both Angela and I have a deep love for pageantry! Pageants offer countless opportunities to the women who participate, win or loose. The most rewarding thing for us is the e-mails we get from all of our contestants and parents of contestants thanking us and telling us that our pageant was the best experience of their lives! A well run pageant can really enhance a young girl’s self-esteem, goal-setting capabilities, not to mention communication skills and self-discipline.
So, in no particular order, here are our reasons for leaving:
1) The main reason for our departure is money but not in the way you might think. Neither Angela nor I feel comfortable charging local girls a minimum of $350. That is my biggest problem with the way the prelims are being set-up and we’ve been very vocal about it. I’ve been a contestant. Angela has been a contestant. Our families aren’t rich but we definitely aren’t poor either. But let’s face it pageants are expensive! The few years that I competed took a huge toll on both my checkbook and my mom’s. Don Steere and I started the Miss Daytona Beach Teen and Miss Volusia County Teen pageants because we wanted to give young girls who normally wouldn’t be able to afford to compete in pageants the chance to.
One difference between our pageant and all of the others around the state is that we ONLY accept local girls. You have to be from Volusia County to compete. We have a tremendous amount of SCHEDULED appearances for our titleholders and they must come from this area in order to attend them. (Side note) Being from the area that you represent also gives you a great pride in your community. There is no way that we can charge $350 in this area and get the number of contestants that we want. Frankly I think that charging $350 minimum is the easy way out. It’s much easier to charge more and have 5-8 contestants than to charge under $100 and just get out there and do the work to make money elsewhere. Grant Jr. himself said that the money they make doesn’t come from entrance fees, why should it be any different for locals.
Also, with this new way of doing things we feel that the amount of new contestants that you bring into the system will be severely decreased. There aren’t going to be a lot of contestants, who are brand new to pageants, shelling out $350 for a local competition again and again and again. Make matters worse by allowing anyone (including successful pageant girls) from around the state to compete in that pageant. In four pageant years we have never had a contestant who previously competed in pageants, allowing the judges to truly pick the girl who has the most POTENTIAL not the one who might look the most polished. It is our job as directors to teach polish.
2) WE DID WANT TO BE AN OFFICIAL PAGEANT! I called Grant Jr. from Germany on Monday, January 20, 2003 (more than one year before we could hold our pageants) and yes I really do write down the dates of really important phone calls. I talked to him about starting the pageants back up again and being official. The problem was that my contract with the Army wasn't up until February 2, 2004. I was trying to get out early because of school but there was no guarantee.
At the time of my phone call you had to hold an official preliminary before January 1st. There was no way that we could do that. First of all there was a good chance that I wouldn't be home until February. Second that would leave us with only one month to put a pageant together after transitioning from a very different, difficult lifestyle. It just couldn't be done. And Grant and I talked about it. I also wanted to get his permission before I started the web site to make sure he was okay with me using photos of Michelle and Tommie, which he was. I started the web site on Tuesday, January 21, 2003 and sent him an e-mail on Wednesday, January 22, 2003 (I still have it) telling him about the web site and once again explaining our situation about not being able to be official in 2004 because of the time constraints but that we were going to go through with the pageant and we were looking forward to being official the following year.
Imagine our surprise when we read in an October 2003 edition of the Miss Florida Teen USA e-zine that there was a new pageant, Miss Daytona Beach USA and Miss Daytona Beach Teen USA. Knowing full well that we intended to be official the franchise was given out anyway. I called Grant Jr. who simply said he didn’t know that we were coming back. Adding insult to injury he did say that he could offer us a different title. The very next thing we did was e-mail the new director to explain the situation to hopefully correct it. The last thing we wanted was to have 2 Daytona Teen pageants leading to Miss Florida Teen USA. There was no response. We e-mailed again, still no response. We decided to dig in our heels and keep the name. After all, our teen pageants were the first ever preliminary pageants in the state and were the beginning of preliminary pageants for the Miss Florida Teen USA system. We felt that we would be better suited for the Daytona pageants because we are both from this area. Additionally our web site had been up for 10 months and our paperwork had been circulating throughout the community for 9 weeks.
Angela and I have taken all of the heat regarding the whole 2 Daytona Teen titleholders. All we were trying to do is follow the January 1st rule. If you want to blame someone look elsewhere.
3) I know a lot of people are going to think that we left the system because our girls didn’t win or place at the state pageant. That is simply untrue. Don’t get me wrong we were extremely disappointed that Heather, Tiffany, and (especially) Kendra weren’t in the Top 15 but do you honestly think we would throw in the towel over something so subjective? No, the lack of placement at state just made us realize that we really don’t belong. We firmly believe in preparing our girls a certain way. We stress being natural, being 100% comfortable with who you are, open & outward, etc. Some of our girls pick it up easier than others. Some girls ignore it all together. The Top 15 confirmed what we were already suspicious of; the state pageant is looking for something that we will never teach.
4) Our “poor judgment,” and “just showing up for appearances with crown and sash for photos.” This is actually quite humorous to Angela, Kendra, Nakia, and I. Appearances are the most important role a titleholder can have. She cannot make too many appearances or receive too much exposure. Every local appearance that our titleholders attend is scheduled through the proper offices. Again, Angela and I grew up here; we know the city very well. And I can assure you that I would never allow my titleholders to “just show up” anywhere! Our titleholders are chaperoned on every appearance. 99.9% of the time I am the chaperone, I take my digital camera, and my video camera, so that I can update our web site, so that fans can really feel like they know our titleholders and what they go through.
The Miss USA pageant was an event that Kendra and I attended together. She is an amazing 16 year old girl who has never competed in pageants let alone held a title. I made sure that she felt like the queen that she is. I scheduled a tour for us, informed the tour director of who she was. He made a huge deal out of it and even had her signing autographs! I told her to take her sash along so that we could take souvenir photos (it was our first trip to LA) for her own personal scrap book. We loved the photos so much we decided to post them on the web site. That is not poor judgment, its good marketing!
Next let’s talk about the infamous bikini on the beach shots. We were at a Beach Volleyball tournament. The turnout for the tournament was not what the promoters where expecting. According to them, having Miss Daytona Beach Teen there was the highlight of their event. I don’t know if maybe some of the people complaining have ever seen the Miss Teen USA pageant but those swimsuits are pretty skimpy. The bikini Kendra had on was conservative. I could understand people complaining if there was no swimsuit competition in the pageant but honestly none of us here in Daytona see the problem. Kendra loved them, and her parents loved them and the photo shoot helped to bring people over to the tournament.
5) Yes, the constant bashing is a part of why we are not returning but a very small part. It seems that no matter what great thing we do people have to put us down and criticize us, our pageants, and our girls. That wears on you after awhile and doesn’t make you feel very welcome or wanted. If you are criticizing my judgment you are really attacking my character which I do have a major problem with.
I wish that people in this industry would stop talking behind each other’s backs. And please, stop taking what you think is the truth, twisting it, and spreading rumors. This is not middle school. If you have something to say about me or the way I run my business then talk to me about it. Our e-mail is listed all over this site. I will be more than happy to respond to any questions at any time.
We have many goals with our pageants but our top priority is that all of the contestants MUST have a GREAT time! We design our show to be fun and entertaining for the contestants and equally important, for the audience. We are very proud of our productions and we stand by all of the risks that we have taken. You live and learn. People might think that you are making mistakes but we see it as “there is no way that you can improve if you are always doing the same thing year after year.” We were able to really look at the Miss Daytona Beach Teen pageant, learn from it, and come back with Miss Volusia County Teen which is the best show we’ve produced to date. We did have some problems with a parent but the issue was resolved when our last statement was released.
My first pageant experience was Miss Florida Teen USA, I was 17 years old. I competed with 83 other girls and had such an awesome time. That pageant (and Tel-Air) is why I continued competing and why I started the Miss Daytona Beach Teen and Miss Volusia County Teen pageant when I was 19 years old. We had fun at Miss Florida Teen USA, at Miss Florida USA. We all understood that it was a competition but the fun is what kept us coming back. After helping out with the Miss pageant last summer and having contestants in the Teen pageant this fall, I think the pageants have gotten away from that. It is so competitive now, there is so much tension and pressure, the girls are so focused on winning that I think some of them are forgetting to just have fun and enjoy the experience.
I hope that whoever reads this will really take the time to understand where we are coming from; it was a very difficult decision for us to make. This was going to be a career for Angela and I but with the current preliminary changes neither of us think it will be possible. We really take pride in our pageant beliefs and we aren’t going to betray those beliefs no matter what the cost. It hurts us to have to leave the system we love so much. But if no one is willing to listen to your ideas, your not part of the group anyway. Democracy doesn’t work in a dictatorship even if you do get to “vote.”
We have the utmost respect for Tel-Air Interests and the pageants they produce. We hope to be able to come back to the USA/Teen USA system in the future. The Miss Daytona Beach Teen and Miss Volusia County Teen pageants will continue. Unfortunately, Angela will not be able to continue as Co-Executive director because her new job will have her traveling around the country. We will be expanding the staff soon. Right now we are planning on sending our winners to the Miss Florida Teen U.S. Continental pageant.
Thank you,
Kim Decker & Angela Grant
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