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Kristin Blair, of Southlake, is on her way to Las Vegas on Jan. 21 to compete in the 59th Miss America pageant.
"It’s been a three-year journey to become Miss Texas," Blair said. "Miss Southlake was the first-ever Texas pageant I entered and the first title I held at Miss Texas," she explained. Blair won the title in July entered as Miss North Texas. Blair, who has been on the road much of time since being crowned Miss Texas, says she can’t even remember the details of the pageant in July."I just know it was a grander feeling than I could have ever fathomed, like a movie with the very happiest ending," she said. With three levels of competition — local, state and national — Blair has also competed in and won Miss Southlake, Miss Fort Worth and Miss North Texas. Born in Houston, but moving around as a child, Blair moved to Southlake in 2006."Southlake is such a wonderful city full of ambitious, accomplished, generous and family-oriented people," she said. "It’s given me a great sense of pride and source of inspiration to be immersed in such an environment." She hasn’t been home much lately, however. During her time as Miss Texas, Blair says she has put about 30,000 miles on the Miss Texas car."I’ve done anything from county fairs to black tie events, from speaking to an assembly of 650 elementary students to mingling with city council members at annual events. Miss Texas makes nearly 400 appearances in just a year’s time."If she wins at Las Vegas, she’ll be putting in even more time."That would be the next great chapter," she said. "If not, I get to come home to my favorite place in the world, to truly the greatest job and privilege any girl can dream of." The Miss America pageant offers more than $45 million a year to young women in scholarships and the competition is demanding. The talent and interview portions of the judging constitute 70 percent of each contestant’s score. Blair said she is up to the challenge; she will be singing a Puccini aria. "I’ve been studying classical voice since the age of 11 and am a vocal performance major at the University of North Texas," she said. Her platform for the pageant is celebrating youth while also celebrating one’s passions and living out one’s dreams. For someday in her future, Blair says she has her sights set on a career in the performing arts and teaching children’s music theater. "One of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever been given, is that within our own limitations are huge possibilities," Blair stated. "All of my greatest successes have come from lots of hard work, determination and even the more-than-occasional experience of failing. If someone had told me even just five years ago I would be living all of this, I never would have believed them," Blair said.
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