Amador gets Miss UCLA Y2K crown

By Melody Wang

Daily Bruin Contributor

Gloria Amador thanked her friends and family for all their
support as she was crowned the winner in a beauty pageant at Royce
Hall Sunday evening. She was close to tears as she embraced the
other contestants and waved to the audience.

But this was not your typical Miss Universe beauty pageant, with
contestants walking across the stage in their swimsuits. Instead,
it was the Miss UCLA Y2K Pageant.

Micol Hebron, director of the pageant, has been planning the
pageant for two years. She said the purpose of the pageant was to
break away from the common stereotype that pageants solely judge a
woman’s beauty.

She added that she also wanted to create an opportunity for
students of different majors to interact with each other.

“I’ve never seen more types of people working on
something,” Hebron said.

In addition to the crown, Amador also earned a $1,500
scholarship.

“I was really honored and so excited,” said Amador,
a fourth-year mathematics and applied science student. “I
thought all the girls were great. Everyone put their heart and soul
into it.”

Jennifer Eskin, a second-year history student was the
first-runner up and was also named Miss Congeniality — the
friendliest one during the pageant ““ by the other
contestants. She received a parking pass for one quarter.

Eskin said that she entered the pageant thinking it would be
interesting, but did not expect to win.

“The past few months preparing have been
incredible,” she said. “I had the opportunity to meet
girls I would have never met otherwise.”

Hebron said more than 30 students applied, but 12, including one
male, were selected based on creativity, ingenuity and
individuality.

Three contestants later dropped out because personal reasons,
leaving a total of nine females competing for the crown. She added
that contestants were required to attend weekly meetings for the
past three and a half months and put hundreds of hours into
preparing for the pageant.

“You have to prepare a lot,” said Heidi Hayes, a
fourth-year communications studies and mathematics student.
“This is like an extra four-unit class.”

Contestants competed in the categories of BearWear, in which
they created their own blue and gold clothing to represent their
school spirit, physical fitness, talent and interview.

Each contestant was judged for her school spirit, creativity,
expression of her goals and what she has learned from being at
UCLA.

For the physical fitness category, the contestants collectively
decided to play Simon Says. Hebron said the contestants chose to do
this because they did not want to engage in an activity that could
be judged quantitatively.

“This was probably the most difficult category to judge
because it was short and it was hard to remember who was
who,” Hebron said. “They were judged based on charisma,
enthusiasm and self-expression for this category.”

During the interview portion of the competition, Amador was
asked about her family life in Nicaragua.

“Growing up in Central America was a great
experience,” Amador responded. “We have grandparents
living in the same house to share their knowledge.”

Other contestants though, do not regret entering and said that
even though they did not win, they feel like they still learned a
lot from the experience.

“I’ve learned to be really gracious,” said
Erin Kuhns, a third-year theater student. “It’s so much
fun to do something that I’ve never done before.”

Pageant contestants entered the competition for many different
reasons.

“I was afraid to speak in front of people so I thought
that the pageant would help me overcome my fears,” said Lisa
Gewelke, a second-year neuroscience and cognitive science
student.

After the event, many of the contestants said that the pageant
should happen again.

“I was really impressed with how everyone pulled
together,” Hebron said. “I think the girls did a
fantastic job.”