Miss Nevada Teen USA prepares to take national pageant stage

Kimberley McGee

Thursday, Aug. 3, 2000 | 9:07 a.m.

It's a dream that many little girls have: to be crowned a beauty queen and walk down the runway, a bouquet of roses hugged to their chest and a bejeweled tiara upon their head.

For one little girl who grew up in Las Vegas, that dream came true.

In that dream, Melissa Starr Davis, Miss Nevada Teen USA, found something more -- a penchant for politics, community and charity.

The 18-year-old discovered that the glory behind the title came not in clothes and made-up appearances, but in the responsibilities that the owner of the crown carries.

She will represent Nevada on Aug. 26 in the Miss Teen USA pageant in Shreveport, La. The live telecast on CBS will be tape-delayed on KLAS Channel 8 and air at 9 p.m.

As Miss Nevada Teen, Melissa continues to teach dance and piano lessons and coach a synchronized swim team. However, along with these pursuits she now gives public speeches to other teens, works with the elderly and dabbles in politics -- duties she was pleasantly surprised to find were the cornerstone of her tenure as titleholder.

Pageants, Melissa said, are trying for an image change to focus more on what they can do for the community rather than what an individual winner can do for herself. This impressed Melissa about the Nevada pageant.

"It has more to do with service than anything else," Melissa said. "People think that is has a lot to do with glamour, but it's much more than that."

Melissa said that unlike some other states, which put a high priority on beauty, Nevada pageants emphasize the substance of the contestant first.

"It's more than a title," she said. "It's about helping people and serving people and trying to help to keep kids off drugs."

While some states, such as California, Melissa said, treat the title holder as a semi-celebrity, the Miss Nevada Teen is unique.

"Las Vegas is full of interesting people so it's no big deal, really," she said.

Although Melissa donned beautiful gowns with matching shoes and a coifed 'do for the pageant, she was relieved that the focus was on the inner rather than outer beauty of the teen.

"When a pageant girl wins it's not all about looks and beauty, it's about who they are and how they want to help people," Melissa said. "That's the part that most people don't see because it's all (expressed) in interviews, not on the stage."

Last September Melissa entered her first beauty pageant for the fun of it, and won.

"I thought it would be something interesting to do," Melissa said. "It's been more than that."

And she has given more than what was expected, said Andy Swanson, co-director of this year's Miss Nevada Teen USA pageant.

"We are lucky this year in that we have a strong voice in Melissa," Swanson said. "She has strong opinions and she's not afraid to stand up for the things she believes in."

"It literally opened doors for me," Melissa said. "I made appearances that I (couldn't before) at places that were exciting and fun."

Over the past nine months Melissa has played piano for homebound medical patients, campaigned against drug abuse and met with state Sen. Ray Rawson, R-Las Vegas, who introduced a bill to fight teen substance abuse.

The No Tolerance for Drug Use policy was part of what Melissa wanted to accomplish during her reign. She drafted a letter of proposal in June, which she hand-delivered to Sen. Rawson's office. The secretary noticed Davis' title, mentioned in the letter, and asked her to wait a moment for Rawson, who put the bill on the 2001 agenda for the Nevada Legislature.

Melissa will appear in front of the legislature in November, although her reign as Miss Nevada ends in September when a new Miss Teen Nevada will be chosen. She plans to carry on, crown-less, with what the title has offered her in order to make changes for Nevada teens.

"It really has been something that has enabled her to get things done that she hadn't dreamed of," Cindy Davis, Melissa's mother, said.

Cindy first heard of the pageant over the radio. After mentioning it to her daughter, the two asked family members to sponsor the then 17-year-old Durango High School senior. An aunt and grandparents pitched in money for gowns, suits, shoes and beauty treatments, which cost $1,500.

The total prize package for the winner? Among some of the smaller prizes, a check for $1,200.

But the pair say it was worth it.

"It really was fun and it's done so much for me, really," Melissa said.

As a college student at Brigham Young University in the late-'70s, Cindy briefly experienced the world of pageants as a contestant.

"I thought it was fun and exciting with all the girls and the (buying of) gowns," Cindy said. "But I didn't learn what a title was all about until Missy (her daughter's nickname)."

Cindy was pleased at how much Miss Nevada Teen was involved with community efforts -- and how much it affected her oldest daughter.

Teenagers, Cindy said, tend to be self-involved. And to the naysayers of pageant life, she found the experience has been nothing but beneficial to her daughter and her family, which includes her husband of 19 years, John, 15-year-old daughter Shauna and two younger girls, Laci and Shelbi, ages 5 and 6 respectively.

"As far as her self-esteem and learning what was real and important, you can't ask for anything more for your child," Cindy said of what has happened with Melissa over the past nine months. "It's good to see them turn around and see the inner happiness that comes from serving others."

As titleholder, Melissa has stepped up her already busy schedule. Along with her duties and classes, she has taken on other adventures: plunging to the bottom of Lake Mead to earn her scuba-diving certificate and soaring above the valley in a two-seat plane to obtain her flying credentials.

"She's just always got to be moving. This child just goes and goes and goes," Cindy said.

Melissa's dedication has earned her a partial music scholarship to Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif., where she plans to study in the fall. Although Melissa has also earned a Millennium Scholarship (awarded to Nevada residents) to UNLV, she said she wants to get a taste of the world away from the safety of home.

Melissa plans to major in international relations at Pepperdine. That's what she's really focusing her attention on, she said, not the upcoming contest -- although, when asked, she admits to having a few butterflies.

"I just want to get there," Melissa said. "I'm really more excited than anything. Once I get there, I'll probably be really nervous."

What does she think are her odds to win?

"I have a one-in-50 chance, as do all the other girls," Melissa said. "But whatever happens, I'm just there to have a good time."