A long-awaited event finally arrived this past Tuesday on Grambling State University’s campus: the 2013-2014 Calendar Girl signing. This event takes place at the beginning of the semester every fall. Campus and community get a chance to meet Miss Cover Girl and the Calendar Girls and get their copy of the calendar signed.
This calendar signing was a bit different from the previous ones in that all the young ladies who competed in the pageant, not just the winners, are featured in the calendar. (This is because corrected voting tabulation at the pageant changed the results.)
Miss Cover Girl Tiara Thomas, a junior from Houston, said competing in the Calendar Girl pageant has changed her life.
“I am no longer a regular student. I am now a role model. When you become a Cover Girl, you live by a different set of standards.” Thomas was also asked what was the biggest lesson she has learned from this experience, she mentioned “Go for it! Be confident and trust in your abilities. Its a good experience.”` Thomas vocalized some advice she would give to young women who wish to enter pageants at Grambling State University and spoke on her own internal conflicts when she was competing, ” You can do something when you put your mind to it. I was having doubts about competing at first, but when I set my mind to it, my confidence helped with the overall execution of my performance.”
Many of the Calendar Girl participants spoke on how competing in the pageant gave them confidence and a chance to bond with other women of GSU’s campus.
“It made me more social” said Megan Siverand, Miss June “You need strong confidence and to believe in yourself.
Miss April, Reyunia Holmes spoke on how the pageant has changed her life, “Competing has made me more confident and it made me believe I can do anything. I met a lot of people and made new friends.” Holmes also acknowledged that the biggest lesson she learned was “Sportsmanship. We really helped one another and it was a positive experience. It was not just based on beauty, but the inside as well.”