Miss Tennessee Preview

Wednesday, June 15, 2016 - by Wendy King

Miss Chattanooga Caty Davis

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The Miss Tennessee Pageant’s three rounds of preliminaries begin Wednesday night in Jackson with 35 contestants converging in Jackson hoping to win a $13,000 scholarship and becoming the state’s representative at September’s Miss America competition.

The preliminaries and Saturday’s finals will be web streamed at www.eplustv6.com starting at 9pm ET/8CT.  The top 16 will compete on Saturday night until the winner is crowned by the 2015 titleholder Hannah Robison.  Ms. Robison, the former Miss Scenic City received scholarships totaling $46,000 this year by virtue of her $18,000 state award, being a top seven Miss America finalist, the runner-up for the Miss America Quality of Life Award for exceptional community service with her platform of Campaign Against Pain – Arthritis Awareness and becoming the first Miss Tennessee to be voted as America’s Choice as well as the first to receive a STEM scholarship which she will use for graduate studies after finishing her undergraduate degree in Chemistry next year at UT-Martin.

Four Chattanooga area entrants are attempting to become the third Miss Tennessee from the region in the last four years joining Ms. Robison, Hayley Lewis (2014) and Chandler Lawson (2012) all of whom represented the Scenic City Pageants.

Miss Chattanooga Caty Davis is a senior at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville majoring in Psychology and is a member of the a cappella group “Volt”.  Her platform is Addiction Doesn’t Define Me: Empowering Families Affected by Substance Abuse which began after her father committed suicide two years ago.

Miss Tennessee Valley Meredith Maroney of Jackson also attends UT-Knoxville where she is majoring in Journalism/Electronic Media and Hispanic Studies. Ms. Maroney’s platform is “Jewels for Joyce” honoring her late grandmother who succumbed to Alzheimer’s.  She received the first $1,000 scholarship awarded as this year’s pageant as the winner of the Public Relations Award for the most ads sold in the program book.

Miss East Tennessee Winterfest Ashley Broockman of Chattanooga is a Verizon Wireless representative and a 2014 graduate of UT-Chattanooga where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Communications.  Ms. Broockman’s platform is Bully Free Tennessee in which she shares her story of being victimized while attending high school in Maryville.  She has performed as “Elsa” from Disney’s Frozen at numerous events and has been featured in several Chattanooga musical theatre productions including Chicago and Legally Blonde.  Ms. Broockman is also a former sports reporter at WDEF News 12.

Miss Murfreesboro Mary Allyson McGinnis is a graduate of East Hamilton High School and a sophomore at Belmont University in Nashville majoring in Business Administration.  Ms. McGinnis’ platform is Big Brothers/Big Sisters: Start Something Big!  She rappelled off the Nashville Omni Hotel to raise funds for BB/BS and is the President of the organization’s Belmont chapter.  Ms. McGinnis was Taylor Swift’s body double in an episode of ABC’s Nashville and is a Belmont Ambassador.

All four women will have vocal presentations for their talent.  Chattanooga entertainer Robin Grant, who will be featured in the upcoming local version of Dancing With The Stars, is one of the six state judges.

Like her predecessors in recent years, the new Miss Tennessee will serve as the state’s Goodwill Ambassador for Children’s Miracle Network, Governor Bill Haslam’s spokesperson for Character Education and Honorary Chair for Volunteer Tennessee.

http://www.chattanoogan.com/2016/6/15/326132/Miss-Tennessee-Preview.aspx