Brooke Jacobsen at Nationals in the holiday spirit.

Article by Kathy Dunker with photos by Dawn Jacobsen

We all know the stereotypes surrounding girls and beauty pageants. The image of young girls with heavy make up and dressed as if they were much older than they are. Well, not so for Brooke Jacobsen, resident of Daniels Gate, who recently participated in the national competition for the National American Miss (NAM) Pageant in Anaheim, California.

It all started in October of last year when Jacobsen wanted to try doing a pageant. She had never participated in one before nor had any other member of her family. So she gave it a shot and not only did very well, but was named “Miss Denver” in the pre-teen (11 through 13 year olds) casual wear modeling category. This landed her a crown, a sash, trophies, and also qualified her for the national pageant during Thanksgiving week.

The Jacobsen’s had no idea what to expect and at times felt a bit overwhelmed by the experience. The national pageant was a seven day event. And all days involved a combination of rehearsals, interviewing with judges one on one, going before judging panels, photography shoots, group tours of California, social gatherings with fellow pageant contestants, and numerous competitions. These very full days started as early at 8:30 a.m. and ended as late as 9:45 p.m. Even on Thanksgiving, events started at 9:00 a.m. and ended with a Thanksgiving banquet for the families.

The Anaheim Marriott was filled with hundreds of pageant national finalists ranging in age from five years old to 20. In Jacobsen’s age group, there were roughly 160 contestants. As Jacobsens’s mom, Dawn, commented, “The interesting thing is that every single girl from every walk of life competes together toe to toe. And they all do really well!” Dawn was quite impressed by the experience. She remarked, “We will do this again absolutely! It was a group of really nice families who were all so helpful to us. And the judges were all so encouraging to all of the girls.”

The interviews were conducted much like a job interview with each girl telling the judges about herself, what makes her special, what classes she likes, how she gives back to the community, what her goals are for the future, to name a few. Going up on stage and holding a microphone without stumbling, paying attention to posture, coming across well to others, being yourself, looking natural, and dressing completely age appropriate were all part of the judging criteria. Speeches were encouraged to be genuine and not rehearsed. And it’s not just about looks, but more about what each girl brings to the table.

The contestants’ wardrobes included a business type suit with blazer and skirt that is not too short and no slits and a full length gown for the final walk, which was also not revealing with no slits. In the pre-teen category, no visible makeup was allowed whatsoever and no fake fingernails.

In the end, Jacobsen placed second runner up in the Top Model category, which is impressive considering the amount of competition. Every girl left with awards. A lot of bonding took place amongst the girls and the parents as well. Dawn said, “Everyone was so helpful and gave us a lot of tips. We didn’t even know what shoes Brooke needed.” And what were the shoes of choice? Just very simple tan colored shoes, nothing fancy and very small heal. Jacobsen said her favorite part about the experience was, “I tried a lot of new things, I made a lot of friends, and I learned a lot about myself. Oh, and I liked wearing the dress!”

The last two days consisted of awards, final rehearsals, and all the girls walking in their formal gowns. On the closing day, the top five contestants were announced, followed by the queen. Of the top five in pre-teen, one already has a contract with Disney, another has been on the cast of a major motion picture, another has her own two modeling agents in New York. So it seems to be not just a pageant, but also a catalyst into the world of acting and modeling… which is once again a whole other world from the pageant world. To find out more about the NAM organization, visit www.namiss.com.