Cover Story

Miss Boulder City
by Dawn Green

In 1948 the Boulder City American Legion created Miss Damboree. It was a way to raise funds for the fireworks, create some excitement about the 4th of July celebrations, and involve the young women living in Boulder City. Ila Godbey, the first runner up of the 1948 festivities will tell you that she was beaten out of the title of Miss Damboree by a cocktail waitress from Railroad Pass. Sixty-four years later the event is still a part of the Damboree Celebrations. Although the girls no longer raise money for the fireworks, they are still involved in raising money for their college scholarship.

Miss Damboree evolved into Miss Boulder City sometime in the 1970’s. The pageant is not a stepping stone to Miss America or Miss USA, it is a local competition that recognizes our youth for their outstanding contributions to the community.

The winner of the pageant is called on to help the BC Chamber of Commerce in ribbon cutting ceremonies, and helps in presenting the awards at the Dam Short Film Festival. You also see her every year in the 4th of July parades along with the Christmas Parade. The pageant winner also helps with the Christmas tree lighting ceremony for the city.

Last year’s winner, Miss Emily Hewett, is attending Johnson and Wales University in Charlotte, North Carolina. She currently volunteers at the Charlotte Rescue Mission. There, she donates her time by preparing and serving food. During her Christmas break, Emily attended a meeting of the newly formed Brownie Troop #106. She did a presentation for the girls explaining how important it is to work within your community. She encouraged each girl to explore and find their passion for what they would like to accomplish in life.

Over spring break, Emily visited elementary classrooms and the Christian Center to share her love of reading with children. Emily has stated that the experiences she has had in serving others has humbled her and helped her become a better person. The Miss Boulder City Scholarship Pageant has helped her achieve her dreams.

This year’s Boulder City High School students with a grade point average of 3.3 or above compete for $15,000 in college scholarships. The money is raised through business sponsorships, advertising in the program, silent auctions, yard sales, car washes and bake sales. The girls are responsible for community service, and compete with essays, interviews, applications, scholastic achievement, extracurricular activities, along with the pageant night of talent and poise.

Each year applications are dropped off at Boulder City High School’s library, counselors office, and administration office. The application asks the participants to list their honors and awards received during service to their school, community, organizations and church. They are asked what volunteer time they have completed and how they are involved in the Boulder City Community. The girls are graded on their participation in these activities along with extracurricular activities in high school.

The applications are returned to the school mid-January with an essay about how being Miss Boulder City would affect their life. The girls are all interviewed by a team of Boulder City’s business leaders. Many of the questions asked are about Boulder City’s history, and current politics that are on the agenda of City Council.  This gives our leaders new fresh ideas to help make our city’s decisions.

The participants are an amazing group, they are members of the honor society, school government, church officers, and Boulder City Hospital volunteers. They are also star athletes with dreams and aspirations for their life out of high school. As the years pass we see their accomplishments.

Morgan Jarvis, Miss Boulder City 2007 will be entering Medical School this fall. Brittany Duncan, Miss Boulder City 2008 graduates this May with a Capstone Degree in journalism. Michelle Coe 2009, Jenna Rassuchine 2010, and Emily Hewitt are attending college, studying entrepreneurship, physics, and culinary arts respectively.

This year Bailey Barker, Taylor Barton, Allisa Clarke, Annalisa Dodge, Cameron Kanaley, Ayla Lambert, Alexis Lynch, Emilia Oscilowicz, Kacey Robb, Allison Shea-Baker, and Mikaela Stevens will be on stage performing their talents on May 26, at 6:00. The Boulder City High School Auditorium will be the site of all the excitement.  We hope to pack the auditorium with an admission of $10. You won’t find a better evening’s entertainment for that price.

We’d like to send a special thank you to all of our sponsors who continue to make the pageant possible.