Just what does it take to become Miss Addison?

The village held the Miss Addison Scholarship Pageant on Saturday as part of the Community Days Festival. It was the first time in three years the village held the pageant.

This year’s event featured eight young women from the community vying for $1,750 in scholarship money for college.

Anna Mikulski was crowned the winner, receiving a $1,000 scholarship. The first runner-up, Denise Hernandez, and second runner-up, Christine Lambert, also received scholarship money.

Pageant organizer and Addison Village Clerk Lucille Zucchero said Miss Addison is not treated as a typical beauty pageant, but as a scholarship competition based on academics, personality and community service. Contestants are judged in four categories: formal wear, casual wear, a question-and-answer time, and an interview session.

“Traditionally, Miss Addison has always been a young woman who best represents the village,” Zucchero said. “Today’s Miss Addison contestants will be tomorrow’s leaders in the community, and that is what the pageant is all about.”

One of the community’s current leaders is Miss Addison 1985 LeVonne Cescolini-Boyer, a social science teacher and dance coach at Addison Trail High School. She said her experience as Miss Addison gave her confidence and social skills she has used throughout her life.

“It was a lot of fun being Miss Addison, and it was nice being able to represent the village,” Cescolini-Boyer said. “I still live in Addison today, and have been at Addison Trail for 14 years.

“So you never know what kind of doors the experience can open up for you.”

Pageant preparation

While excited to be part of this year’s pageant, several of this year’s Miss Addison participants said they did not realize how much time it took to prepare for the event.

Between interviews — both on public access television before the event and during the pageant, picking out outfits, getting their hair and makeup just right, and the rehearsal process, some of the girls said it took them several hours to prepare for their moment in the spotlight.

“I thought I’d just show up, get to walk across the stage and smile,” contestant Danielle Pontarelli said. “I had no idea there was this much work in preparing for the event.”

Pontarelli spent more than two hours picking out dresses for the pageant and another three or four hours going over her questions for the interview and question-and-answer portions.

Nicole Valio also said the preparation process was much different than she expected.

“I really had no idea that it was this involved,” she said, “but it has been a good experience for me.”

Another contestant, Shaye Lio, was familiar with the preparation process as she had a friend in the event previously.

“I also participated in the Little Miss Addison Pageant when I was young, so I have had some experience with how this stuff works,” Lio said. “There’s a lot you have to prepare for; you have to answer a lot of questions.”

It took six or seven hours for Lio to pick out her outfits and go over the 16 questions that could be asked during the pageant, even though each contestant is asked only two.

One chosen; all winners

Five judges, who are not residents of Addison, were asked to score the girls in several categories, including academic achievement, volunteerism, community service, personality and appearance.

One of the judges, Heather Sobecki, director of constituency relations for Elmhurst College, said each judge was asked to find the one student who was the best overall and represented the total package.

“It really came down to who were the best all-around three contestants and choosing a winner from those three,” she said. “It was not an easy choice; they were all excellent contestants.”

She said the one thing that set Anna Mikulski apart from the other girls was her hard work and commitment to school and community.

“Anna is a very hard-working and driven girl, and I think that is why she was chosen,” Sobecki said.

While only Mikulski won the crown, the last Miss Addison said all the contestants deserve a lot of credit for participating and standing up to represent the community.

“I had a lot of fun with Miss Addison, and I hope they did, too,” said Michelle VadeBonCoeur, who was crowned the last time the pageant was held in 2005. “They are all awesome for going through with this.”

Meet Miss Addison 2008

The winner of this year’s Miss Addison Scholarship Pageant is grateful to have been chosen to represent the community.

Anna Mikulski, 18, a 2008 graduate of Addison Trail High School, was crowned Miss Addison during the pageant, held Saturday at the Addison Community Days Festival.

Mikulski was picked from among eight contestants, earning a $1,000 college scholarship. A total of $1,750 was awarded to Mikulski and the two runner-ups.

Mikulski was honored to be chosen Miss Addison, and said all the hours spent preparing essays and interview answers and picking out formal and casual outfits and accessories were worth it.
“Looking back on it, it was a lot to do, but I’m glad they didn’t rush us through it,” she said. “We all had a great time with it. It is something I will always remember.”

For Mikulski, the best part was being able to make friends with the other girls during the time leading up to the pageant.

“We kind of knew each other from school, but this was really the first time we got to spend time with each other,” she said. “I think we all made a lot of friends in this process.”

Mikulski, who had the highest grade-point average in her class of 392 graduating students, is preparing to start her freshman year at the University of Chicago next month, where she plans on majoring in either medicine or law.

“(The pageant) was a wonderful experience; and I had a lot of fun with it,” she said.