By Pam Teel
On November 22-24th the 2020 Miss New Jersey USA and Miss New Jersey Teen Pageants were held at the Resorts Casino Hotel, in Atlantic City, NJ. Representing Millstone Township in the Miss New Jersey Teen Division was seventeen year old Antonia Arpaia, a senior at Allentown High School. To qualify, contestants must be between the ages of 14-19 years of age as of 12/31/19 and must have never competed in a previous national Miss USA pageant. They must follow and adhere to all other rules and guidelines to qualify.
Antonia entered the competition along with her friend from South Jersey. The two had to learn the correct way to walk on stage, take part in a 30 second dance, show character and poise in two wardrobe changes, introduce themselves in front of the panel and answer random questions from the judges.
All contestants first met with a panel of seven judges who spent time with each one individually to learn about their talents, goals, and ambi- tions. Then the contestants went on to compete in three different phases. First the interview, second- dressed in active wear and third- dressed in an evening gown, where together they all performed a 30 second dance. The contestants got to rehearse walking and being on stage all throughout the weekend.
The Teens are judged on their grace, style, poise, charm, self confidence, ability to communicate and overall impression. They were separated into teams and rehearsed together throughout the weekend. They not only learned how to walk on stage but they had to learn some choreography for their dance number. Eventually, over the weekend, contestants were weeded out, leaving only five finalists left. The winner went on to become New Jersey’s representative for Miss Teen USA 2020 and will become a role model for young woman all over the State. The Miss Universe Competition went on to reward the new winner a 10,000 dollar scholarship to be applied to a higher education tuition or other educational expenses, plus 5,000 in a cash prize, among other prizes.
What compelled Antonia to try out was an ad she saw on instagram. She thought that it would be a cool thing to try out for, being that she would like to become a model in the near future. It started out with a phone in- terview and a background check to make sure she fit all the requirements for eligibility. What she was looking for from this experience was to be able to build up her confidence in herself, learn some aspects of modeling, get a feel for what is expected of a model, and most of all, to have a great positive experience.
What she took away from this experience was the fact that she pushed herself to go outside of her comfort zone and she didn’t regret it. She met a lot of amazing people and bonded with many of the girls on her team. The girls seemed so warm and genuine that they plan on continuing to talk on chat and meet up in the near future. They were all kept busy during the weekend but still had a little time to go exploring along with a buddy. Even though she didn’t win, Antonia did great on her interview and with her routines, but most of all she had a lot of fun while she was there. This was an experience that she will cherish for a long time coming. “This was my first pageant, but who knows,” Antonia stated, “I might just participate in another one sometime.”
To find out more about becoming a contestant go to: Miss Teen USA pageant online.