Columnist John Katsilometes: A look at life’s rich pageant

Monday, March 19, 2001 | 8:30 a.m.

John Katsilometes is the Sun features editor. His column appears Mondays. Reach him at kats@lasvegassun.com or 259-2327.

She doesn't know me. I don't know her.

But I know her class schedule. I know the names of her teachers, her home address, her year in school, her grades, her citizenship record, even her student identification number.

I have a copy of her report card. It was mailed to me by her parents. She's a straight-A student in a well-rounded curriculum that encompasses music, science, career studies and PE. I'll bet she can even juggle and play the spoons.

Mom and Pop also sent a photo. She's gonna break a lotta hearts someday.

She's a contestant in the Nationals' 2001 Miss Junior Teen Las Vegas Pageant, scheduled for Saturday at 4 p.m. at the Las Vegas Academy of International Studies, Performing and Visual Arts at 315 S. 7th St. (any cabbie worth his salt can find the place; it's the old Las Vegas High School building).

A field of around 160 girls and young women will compete for crowns 'n' sashes in five divisions ranging in age from 6 to 23. Winners in each class advance to the Cities of America National Competition Dec. 11-16 in fabulous Orlando, Fla., a prize package worth (drumroll) $475! Also included are expenses for travel and hotel accommodations. Back to you, Bert Parks.

Enough pluggery. In a time when beauty pageants seem stuck in a Phyllis George-at-age-19 time warp, how is a national company -- in this case Cities of America, a pageant promotion operation based in Hermitage, Pa. -- able to lure 160 young ladies to a beauty pageant in Las Vegas?

"We are trying to change attitudes about pageants, and it's also for the girls' purpose. There has been too much emphasis on how they look," Kellie Jones, spokeswoman for Cities of America, said during a phone conversation from her office in Hermitage. "Our competition is based on personality strictly. There are formal-wear and casual-wear categories, but the style of clothes is irrelevant."

("Next up is Tammy, dressed in a fetching burlap-sack number.")

Jones stresses that there are no height and weight requirements, either. "If you're not 5-10, 100 (pounds) you still have a lot to offer," she said. "How you carry yourself is more important than your appearance."

So why are contestants mailing out flattering photos of themselves to the media?

"We don't direct them to do that," Jones said. "That's entirely up to the parents. A lot of parents want to do that."

I think all of them do.

It seems the real image enhancement at work here is colored green. Teen contestants are required to pay a $395 entry fee to compete in Saturday's contest, raising sponsorship funds from local businesses, friends and family. The top 10 finishers in each age division qualify for the Orlando finals, but only first-place finishers are awarded a free trip. The remaining nine -- in all five classes -- are asked to pay a $495 entry fee. Or, they stay home.

Last year 350 contestants from around the country paid for the pageant. The check is in the (fe)male.

Someday the young woman with the report card, bright as she is, will likely remember this as a valuable learning experience.