fourpoints Magazine

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Making the Miss Kansas Pageant a Program About the People

Monday, 25 March 2013 12:01

In a town of just seven thousand residents, the Miss Kansas annual pageant is something of a grand affair. In 2013, Pratt will celebrate fifty-eight years of hosting the event.

Every June since 1955, the community and visitors have been abuzz with excitement and enthusiasm for the Miss America Organization. And because of the efforts of people such as Lisa Perez Miller, the pageant’s executive director and a long-time volunteer, everyone is willing to lend a hand. “It really takes a tremendous group of talented volunteers,” Lisa said, “and we have that in Kansas. We have hundreds of people roll up their sleeves and help us.”

Lisa’s involvement with the Miss Kansas organization began in 1986, six years after she and her husband moved to Pratt. She’s run the gamut of volunteer roles, from helping out with registration to serving as president of the board of directors. “Over the years, of course, it gets in your blood.” 

The Miss America Organization came out on top of Lisa’s to-do list. Volunteering there fit nicely with her “real job,” as she calls it, as the vice president of students, enrollment management, and public relations at Pratt Community College. Working with the college and students, Lisa forges partnerships to enhance the higher education experience. She’s been trained in leadership principles that she uses in helping students apply for college and in working with young women in the Miss Kansas organization. 

“As you look at those different skill sets, they’re great tools to be able to put to work as a volunteer,” Lisa said, “but also, more importantly, to be able to work with our young ladies at ages nineteen to twenty-two.” She adds that promoting higher education and women in leadership positions enables them to enrich their lives and become stronger young women and professionals.

The success of the participants in the Miss Kansas organization and the success of the program itself are thanks to its four pillars, to which Lisa strictly adheres. The main objective is to have the best state program in the organization, she says, and that takes time and coordination. By cultivating volunteers and refining their skills, Kansas works efficiently and diligently to adhere to the time-tested traditions of the organization as well as develop best practice strategies that make contestant, titleholder, and volunteer experiences alike memorable, and helps everyone involved become her or his best self. 

“We’re very proud of our program,” Lisa said. “It’s not rocket science, but we’ve really taken the four points of the crown and looked at how to apply strategic principles. It really is one of the best kept secrets.”  

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Written by: Erika Fifelski, fourpoints staff writer Photo: Lisa Perez Miller with Miss Kansas Sloane Lewis and Miss Kansas' Outstanding Teen Stevie Mack.