In February, Powell grad Chase Anderson received an open call letter asking her to interview for the National American Miss Pageant in Loveland, Colorado. It was unexpected but she accepted the invitation and, when the crowns, banners and trophies were given out on June 17, the first time competitor was crowned National American Miss Wyoming Queen. 

The organization awards over $1.5 million each year in either scholarships, cash or other prizes and holds pageants in all 50 states for girls and women ages 4-24, according to a release provided by Anderson. 

Now she’s looking ahead to the national competition in Orlando, Florida, in November and reflecting on what she learned during her first pageant.

“I met a lot of really cool people that kind of had new perspectives … Colorado was there, Utah was there, New Mexico was also there, so I got to meet some girls from other states too, and I just kind of learned a lot from them and their experiences,” Anderson said. 

Being new to the competition and not having experience was part of why she thinks she did well.

“It was a new experience for me, and I think a lot of it had to do with just how genuine I was about it, because I've never done pageants,” Anderson said. “I didn't have  a bunch of pre-prepared answers for questions, and I didn't kind of know what the environment was like.”

While Anderson did practice for her interview, a lot of the girls she talked to who had won previously or been runners-up had prepared messages and pageant coaches.

“I just went into it and was very genuine and tried to be really true to myself and very real,” Anderson said.

So will there be more pageants in Anderson’s future? For now she’s waiting to see how nationals go.

“[National American Miss] do really focus on trying to improve people's confidence, and I really enjoy that, and I really enjoyed a lot of the things that I learned, and just kind of getting to refine some of those skills,” Anderson said. “And so I think potentially in the future … I would definitely be interested in doing it.”

For others facing an opportunity to do something new Anderson’s advice is to seize it.

“This was something I would have never really thought that I would have started doing … and I'm really, really glad that I did it, because it opened up a lot of doors for me for the future,” Anderson said.