Edmond People Newly Crowned Miss Oklahoma City is
UCO’s Ashley Edwards by Chris Hultner
What is the Miss Oklahoma City pageant all about? The Miss Oklahoma City pageant is a local pageant. When you win a local pageant you advance to the Miss Oklahoma pageant. If you win the Miss Oklahoma pageant you go on to the Miss America pageant. It’s all in the Miss America organization. The girls who win get to promote their personal platform, along with Children’s Miracle Network and we promote the communities we represent. For example, I represent Oklahoma City, so I will do things with Oklahoma City Rotary clubs and Race For The Cure and other organizations. What is your platform? My personal platform is “In The Drivers Seat” and I work very closely with “Alive At 25,” which is a new program taken on by the Oklahoma Safety Council. It’s a brand new program in Oklahoma that’s been very successful in South Carolina and Colorado. Between the ages of 16-24 is when young drivers are most likely to be in a car accident, because they are still new to driving and they are easily distracted. This program teaches young drivers how to not be distracted, pay better attention to the road and what to do if road conditions get bad. I really hope that with this title I can help this program take off. Why did you choose your platform? I chose my platform, because I lost a good friend of mine in a car accident when I was 19. She was on the Honey Bee squad with me. She wasn’t drunk, she was wearing her seat belt, she only took her eyes off the road for one second. That second of inattention caused her to be in a head-oncollision. That was the first time I ever had to deal with losing anyone and it was a really difficult process for me. It’s completely senseless. You can take precautions. You can stop eating in the car, or stop fiddling with the radio and you don’t have to be on 28 edmondactive.com
the cellphone in the car. You can stop these things from happening and you can save your life as well as others just by paying closer attention. I am completely inspired to hopefully stop senseless accidents like this from ever happening again I’m sorry to hear that. Do you think there should be federal laws banning cellphone use while driving? I think a federal law would make it easier for people who travel a lot. When each state, or county, or city has a different law concerning cellphone usage, it makes it very confusing for drivers. I think it would just be easier to have a blanket law. How long have you been involved in pageants? I’ve been doing pageants since I was a Senior in High School, and I am now a Senior in College, so I’ve been doing it for quite some time. But the best thing about it is I’ve completely paid for my entire College education. I am 100% debt-free, and that’s because of pageants—it has paid for my school. Have you won any other titles in the past? Yes, I was Miss UCO in 2008 and I was Miss River Walk in 2009. What are you majoring in at UCO? I’m a public relations major, with a minor in humanities. What do you want to do after College? I want to get my Masters in Student Affairs. Essentially my masters will be in Education with an emphasis on Student Affairs. How old are you? I’m 23. So you’re almost aged out of the Miss America system. I know, this will be my last year. I’m actually one of the oldest that will be competing for the title of Miss Oklahoma this year. What is your next pageant? Miss Oklahoma, in June. Very excited. What are some of your hobbies and what do you do in your spare time? I love to read. I’m an avid reader—I don’t go anywhere without a book. I love to spend time with my friends and family. My family is very important to me. I work at Gaillardia Country Club—I run the beverage cart on the golf course—that’s a lot of fun. I met Bob Stoops doing that. That was pretty cool. Tell us something about you that no one knows. I’m 23 years old and I still sleep with my Teddy Bear. His name is Teddy Edwards— real original, right? He goes with me
everywhere. He goes to every pageant with me. It’s kind of embarrassing, but it’s true. [laughing] I also do not know how to ride a bike. How is it that you’ve never learned how to ride a bike? I don’t know. Do you roller-skate? I tried that once. Ice-skating? No, I’d fall. Skateboarding? Ooo, no Skydiving? I would love to try skydiving. I want to try that so bad. I want to learn. Seriously, you don’t know how to ride a bike? I was really active in dance when I was a kid. In fact, in my senior year in High School I was dancing 20 plus hours a week. That was just class time and didn’t include rehearsals. So I was just really active with dance. That was my passion at the time. In College I really wish I knew how to ride a bike, because that would make things so much easier. It really would. What is your talent in the pageants? I dance, lyrical or contemporary— it’s based more on the emotion and the movement than it is the technique. I’m really excited, we’re doing a new dance for state. I won Miss Oklahoma City with a dance to Celiene Dion’s “Taking Chances,” which I completely loved. Who are some of the people who have helped you along the way? Oh my gosh, there are so many people. First off, my family. My Mom and I started this journey and we had no idea what we were doing. I look back at the pictures, and stuff like that and I’m going, ‘Wow, we had no clue!’ We were running around like chickens with our heads cut off and we had no idea what we were doing. Just to see how much I’ve grown and our relationship has grown through this is such a blessing. We are so much closer. Every pageant I’ve ever done the director has been so supportive and helpful to me. The directors don’t just pick one girl that want to see succeed—they want to see all the girls succeed. That’s what’s so wonderful about the organization—we’re a family. Everyone wants to help everyone. That’s why Oklahoma has such a strong Miss America organization. We’re one of the top three states in the nation. We’ve had six Miss America’s and now we have Miss America’s Outstanding Teen. You just can’t beat that track record.