By By MaryClaire Foster
True to its Hollywood theme, the 2009 Miss Escambia County High School pageant had the judges and the crowd seeing the stars of the school parade across the stage as they competed for the crown.
Junior Whitney Johnson was chosen from among nine other girls as Miss ECHS 2009 Friday night at the pageant sponsored by the Student Government Association.
SGA sponsor Andrea Chance said she is always pleased with the chose winner of the annual pageant and this year was no exception.
Johnson said she chose to be in the pageant for fun and was “surprised” and “honored” to have won.
Johnson said she was not nervous on stage and was even more relaxed up there because of the crowd.
While the crowd may have been big on participation it was small in number according to Chance who said the small number has prompted her to plan on moving the pageant to January next year.
Contestants competed in the categories of theme wear, fitness wear and evening wear. The Top 5 then participated in an individual onstage interview.
The Top 5 winners for the pageant, along with Johnson, were Leslie Smith, Ashley Webster, Sierra Redmon and Joslin Frye.
Sierra Redmon was named first alternate and Ashley Webster was named second alternate.
Emcees for the evening were Maurice Etheridge and Kwantrica Finklea. Atmore All Stars’ Junior Hip Hop and Tiny Cheerleaders, Felicia Bishop, LaQuasha Pierce, D’Asia Lockett-Duet and Expose provided entertainment.
Judges for the pageant were Cindy Dortch, Ava Crutchfield and Bryant Stallworth.