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Miss "More Than Just a Pretty Face" Meghan Lamontagne // Broadcast Journalism // 2011 by Caitlin Wilson
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all gowns, batons and crowns are all in a day’s work for New Hampshire native Meghan Lamontagne. The sophomore transfer from Purdue University has been a baton twirler since the age of three, when a friend exposed her to the sport after she turned in her dance tutu. Years of competing with her twirling team led Meghan to beauty pageants, where she soon found that she excelled. Lamontagne’s first pageant was in 2005 when she competed for Miss New Hampshire’s Outstanding Teen as a junior in high school. Lamontagne won the pageant and got to travel to speaking engagements with Miss New Hampshire. From there she won the title of Miss Merrimack Valley, which allowed her to compete in the 2008 Miss New Hampshire Pageant, where she won the preliminary swimsuit and talent rounds but not the overall competition. However, Lamontagne did not surrender the idea of winning the crown. She won another regional pageant in July, which qualified her to compete in the 2009 Miss New Hampshire competition in May. Though the life of a beauty queen is often portrayed in the media as shallow and catty, Meghan is quick to rebuke the stereotype, even adding the classic line made famous by Candice Bergen in Miss Congeniality: “It is a scholarship program.” Miss America, which Lamontagne goes to great lengths to distinguish from the more commercialized Trump triumph Miss USA, requires that each of its contestants promote a platform. Meghan’s platform is child mentoring, a cause she has been involved in since high school. To prove that winners do not sit at home polishing their crowns, the title of Miss America, and even most regional titles, comes with a rigorous schedule of speaking engagements to promote their platforms. The genuine passion with which Lamontagne speaks of her cause shows just how seriously she takes her role. Lamontagne stresses the importance of the powerful influences teens and young adults have on children. One of the most outstanding attributes of pageant life, Lamontagne says, is the independence that it breeds. Contestants are not required to have parental supervision in many regional competitions, in which they are required to stay in a hotel near the facility. Contestants share rooms with each other, forming close friendships with those they are ultimately competing against, as they learn to be responsible for themselves. Transferring to a school with a less prominent athletic department has been a challenge for Lamontagne, but she is making it work. So far this year she has performed at each home soccer game and is scheduled to perform at home basketball games in the winter. Athletic Coordinator Roger Crosley even scored Lamontagne a gig performing at the Boston Celtics pre-season home opener against the New York Knicks. When her pageant days are over, Lamontagne has dreams of becoming an actress or pursuing a career as a broadcast journalist. With her pageant looks and bubbly personality, Lamontagne sees herself fitting in among the entertainment news crowd. Whether she becomes Miss America or the next Katie Couric, Meghan Lamontagne is a name you’ll want to remember.
www.emmagonline.com