When Grace Burgess woke Sunday morning, she had to reassure herself that she truly had become Miss Tennessee.
“It’s crazy to think that for six years I’ve been working so hard for this dream of mine and it’s here and it’s real,” Burgess said.
Burgess, 22, started her first day as Miss Tennessee with new responsibilities on her shoulders and a crown on her head.
Day one included interviews with the media, signing her Miss Tennessee contract and beginning to design a Miss America wardrobe. She also will have meetings to choose a character trait to discuss with 50,000 children across the state as Gov. Bill Haslam’s spokesperson for character education.
“It’s not about you anymore,” Burgess said. “You kind of give up your name for a year. I’m OK with that. I’m OK with being known as Miss Tennessee when I go into schools, and I hope that I can impact children’s lives just how I was impacted by watching my first Miss Tennessee speak four or five years ago.”
Burgess said one theme she hopes to speak on is perseverance.
For the former Miss Mid-South, winning Miss Tennessee took years of just that: perseverance.
In her first year competing for Miss Tennessee, she did not continue past preliminary competition. Last year, she was first runner-up as Miss Tipton County.
Before her three years of competition for Miss Tennessee, she competed in the Tennessee Outstanding Teen Pageant three times.
Her aunt, Marion Burgess Flannigan, was Miss Tennessee 1975, so Burgess grew up familiar with the pageant.
Burgess, who is from Memphis, loved dancing and performing onstage. During her junior year of high school she decided to compete for Shelby County Outstanding Teen — not realizing it was a preliminary for the Tennessee Outstanding Teen.
“Once I learned (about) the job of Miss Tennessee, there was no turning back,” Burgess said.
Ultimately, Burgess said she wanted the title of Miss Tennessee in order to further her platform, “Ready, Set, Read!: Encouraging a Love for Reading.”
Her new goal is to put books in the hands of those 50,000 children, particularly those who may not have books at home.
After growing up in a home that valued reading, Burgess built her platform to support literacy across the state and nation. She has already worked with Tennessee First Lady Crissy Haslam on her literacy campaigns and said she is excited to strengthen that collaboration.
“Children are my passion. They bring out the best in me,” Burgess said. “To have this bigger platform to go and get to speak to these children and tell them they’re special and tell them they’re loved, I can’t wait to do that.”
Not only has the Miss America organization allowed Burgess to further her campaign for literacy, but it also has helped give direction to her life after Miss Tennessee.
A senior child development major at the University of Memphis, Burgess wants to be a child life specialist at a children’s hospital.
Through planning fundraisers and visiting hospitals, she fell in love with the job of child life specialist.
Being Miss Tennessee will allow her to go back to the Children’s Miracle Network hospitals across Tennessee as a speaker and a role model.
In addition to speaking across the state, Burgess will represent Tennessee at the Miss America Scholarship Pageant in Atlantic City.
“I’m just so thrilled and overwhelmed,” Burgess said. “I know I have a great support team and I’m excited to be the best Miss Tennessee that I can be.”
http://www.jacksonsun.com/story/news/local/miss-tennessee/2016/06/19/dream-becomes-reality-miss-tennessee/86113276/
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