Advertisement From June through November she was averaging about 18 appearances per month as Miss Wisconsin. Somehow, she also managed to squeeze in three waitressing shifts at her uncle’s restaurant, Features Sports Bar and Grill in Holmen. (She also used to work at the West Salem Features.)
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Miss Wisconsin Kristina Smaby helped Elizabeth Peterson of Onalaska, pictured above dancing with Smaby, celebrate her eighth birthday recently. In addition to teaching the party guests a dance routine, Smaby also helped them create their own sashes.
Photo by Randy Erickson |
At the restaurant, she quickly learned that if she wanted to give her clients timely service, she had to try to go incognito. After her first shift, she wore her glasses and left her hair naturally curly and found she could mostly go unrecognized.
Even before winning Miss Wisconsin (or Miss Madison-Capital City, Miss Prairie Shores, Miss La Crosse Oktoberfest and Miss Holmen), Smaby could hardly go anywhere without running into somebody she knew. Mainly, it was dance students she taught at Misty’s Dance Unlimited starting when she was 15.
These days, though, she gets recognized and stopped all the time in the La Crosse area by a wide variety of people. “It’s fun,” she said.
Smaby was advised not to take any bookings starting in December so she could concentrate on preparing for the Miss America Pageant at the end of January. But Smaby told her business manager to keep the appearances coming.
After all, Smaby said, “the best preparation is meeting and greeting different kinds of people.”
It’s good preparation, she said, for interviewing with the Miss America judges in Las Vegas. This year they will include talk radio icon Rush Limbaugh, comedian Paul Rodriguez, actress/producer Vivica Fox, Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast Shawn Johnson, six-time Grammy-nominated instrumentalist Dave Koz, “American Idol” finalist Brooke White and Miss America 2002 Katie Harman.
A busy schedule of appearances also is good preparation for being Miss America, she said. That’s something she’s decided that she’d like to be, despite some initial mixed feelings.
Smaby won the Miss Wisconsin title on her fourth try. It had been her goal for many years, and at first she didn’t think she wanted to be Miss America. “It seemed wrong to want something else to replace it,” Smaby said, referring to her Miss Wisconsin title.
She spent a lot of time praying and thinking about it, and decided she is ready to be Miss America.
“Why can’t I want this,” she said. “I know I can be Miss America.”
While it would be a signal personal accomplishment, Smaby said she doesn’t want the Miss America crown just for herself. It’s for all the people who have supported her over the years and for all her former dance students to whom she will always be “Miss Kristina,” even if she does become Miss America.
If Smaby doesn’t win Miss America, she said, “there won’t be one ounce of disappointment.” There’s a big difference between being confident that you are ready for the task and coveting the crown.
“When you want something too much, you lose purpose in your direction,” Smaby said.
For the past two years, Smaby went to the Miss America Pageant in Las Vegas as a spectator. The first time she entered the auditorium where the competition is held at Planet Hollywood, she felt a sense of purpose, or maybe a sense of destiny. Smaby said she turned to her aunt and said, “I have to dance on that stage.”
The thought that her former students won’t get a chance to see her dance on that stage unless she is a finalist in the televised Miss America finale on Jan. 30 is a huge motivation for Smaby to bring her best efforts to the preliminaries.
Smaby said her former students also played a big part in her pursuit of the Miss Wisconsin title. “I could’ve stopped anytime,” she said. “It was always about other people, the little kids who called me Miss Kristina. I wanted it for them.”
Smaby said she hopes her example will show youngsters (and older folks, too) that perseverance pays off. Smaby has her own role model and mentor who is living proof of that: Miss American 2006 Jennifer Barry.
Smaby said Barry won the Miss Oklahoma title on her fifth try, and then she went on to win the Miss America crown the first year the competition was held in Las Vegas after decades in Atlantic City, N.J. That Barry is a dancer like Smaby just added to the level of inspiration Smaby draws from her.
If not for winning Miss Wisconsin, December would have meant celebrating her own graduation from Viterbo University, where she is just 13 credits shy of a bachelor’s degree in business management. Much of her education has been paid for by the more than $40,000 in scholarship money she has won from winning pageant titles in the Miss America program, which is the world’s largest source of scholarship money for women.
While December was somewhat more relaxed than her previous months as Miss Wisconsin, it was still plenty busy. The Sunday before Christmas, for example, she spent three hours putting on a special “Miss Wisconsin dance party” for an Onalaska girl and the 16 friends helping her celebrate her birthday.
Smaby was at a fundraiser in October for Audra Bena, an Onalaska High School freshman diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. On the spur of the moment, Smaby decided to auction a kids dance party, with proceeds going to Bena. “I was just really inspired by the atmosphere of giving at the event,” Smaby said.
Smaby’s last public appearance before Miss America — other than a party in her honor at Viterbo University in mid-January — came on the last day of December. Smaby was constantly surrounded by well-wishers and autograph seekers, both young and old, at the La Crosse School District’s New Year’s Eve party at Logan High School.
For Smaby, January will be devoted to preparing for Miss America, but she said she already feels pretty well prepared. That’s mainly because she’s planning to go to Las Vegas and just be herself, and she’s been doing that her whole life.
dawson wrote on Jan 9, 2010 1:19 PM:
Go for it and know your community is behind you.
But then with all the Wisconsin Reps. following you on your road to Las Vegas and beyond, you are very well supported. "