Miss Tennessee Scholarship Pageant contestants arrive in Hub City
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JACKSON, Tenn. — Nearly 40 contestants have traveled to the Hub City for the Miss Tennessee Scholarship Pageant. Competitors will be staying at the All Suites Hotel off Carriage House Drive. “You’re living out of a suitcase basically for a week, which can be a challenge at times, but it’s all about organization and it’s an adventure we’re all doing together,” said Shelby Dotson, Miss UT Martin. Some beauty queens don’t mind the week of hotel living. “I actually love to live in hotels,” said Jaclyn Torrento, Miss Henderson County. “Whenever I was little, I would walk in and take a big whiff of it and say, ‘smells like a hotel!’ To me, it’s very comfortable. I love traveling, and it’s kind of a home away from home.” Torrento and all the other contestants will share rooms with other competitors. “It’s fun to have a roommate because you can have someone to talk to when the day’s over with,” she said. “Our days do run long and you get tired at different moments, but you have that person you can go back to the hotel room with and just talk and relax with.” Contestants travel with a support system and all the necessities to go full-on glitz and glamor mode. Collin Long has helped the girls move in for nearly a decade. “We just move in the contestants to get them settled into the rooms so that way they don’t have so much on their plate,” he said. Across town at the Carl Perkins Civic Center is the main stage and dressing room. “After every process in the pageant we’ll come back here and get a whole different wardrobe on,” said Madison Hurst, Miss Jackson. From Neosporin to extension cords, the girls store their competition clothes and pageant success arsenal in the dressing room. But whether it’s a rack of clothes or an extra mirror, some contestants said it only takes three key pieces to kick off pageant week successfully. “I definitely have to have my lipstick, mascara, and a smile,” Dotson said. The winner of this pageant will go on to compete in the Miss America Pageant in September.
