Community Corner
UC Irvine Senior Crowned Miss Fountain Valley
Aimee Le was named Miss Fountain Valley over the weekend and won a $5,000 academic scholarship which she plans to use for medical school.
About 500 people waited in anticipation Saturday as 10 young women lined up on stage at the Saigon Performing Arts Center in hopes of being crowned Miss Fountain Valley.
The audience watched the contestants glide across the stage throughout the night in bathing suits and evening gowns, perform Chopin and Rachmaninoff, recite monologues, perform dances, answer thought-provoking questions and now, they waited. In just moments, Andrea Licata, last year’s pageant winner and the first Miss Fountain Valley since 1991, would pass on the crown to a new queen.
“Alright, the moment you’ve all been waiting for,” Kristy Cavinder-Frontiera, the pageant's mistress of ceremonies and Miss America 2010 first runner-up, said. “Our 2013 Miss Fountain Valley, the recipient of a $5,000 scholarship, is Aimee Le!”
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The audience erupted into cheers and applause as Licata embraced Le, a senior at UC Irvine, and placed the crown atop her head.
“I was not expecting this, it’s surreal,” Le said backstage after the ceremony.
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First runner-up was Orange Coast College student Mikaela McFarland, 20, who took home a $2,000 scholarship. Hannah Holbrook, a 17-year old Fountain Valley High School student, won second runner-up and a $1,500 scholarship, and Chapman student Kelly Self, 22, placed as third runner-up, receiving a $1,000 scholarship.
The contestants, all Fountain Valley women ages 17-22, were evaluated on swimsuit, talent, evening gown, and onstage question competitions. Talent performances included Brittany Votendahl’s performance of an original monologue based on the dangers of distracted driving, and a dance Ana Karen Ramirez choreographed and performed to share her love of her Latina roots. Onstage questions ranged from personal to global focus, and each contestant demonstrated the values and eloquence of pageant royalty.
By intermission, the judges were wowed.
“It’s going to be a hard, hard decision,” pageant judge Dixie Arnold said during intermission. “These girls have so much talent, poise, and beauty. Inside and out.”
The judges all agreed—each of the girls was deserving of the title, but there could only be one winner.
Le, a neurobiology major at UC Irvine, had the whole package. For her talent portion, Le, who has played piano for 15 years, gave a virtually flawless performance of a Chopin piece. She demonstrated equal confidence and grace in both a white bikini for the swimsuit competition and a dazzling silver gown for the evening gown portion of the pageant. In the onstage question, she explained the importance of compassion as a skill that each citizen should practice.
“I’ve been competing in pageants since I was 17 and winning has always been just a distant dream," Le, who plans on using her scholarship for medical school, said. "This means so much to me.”
