ARIANNA AFSAR MAKES CALIFORNIA PROUD

It was an exciting week for Arianna, full of rehearsals, parties, late nights, meetings, dinners, visitations, appearances, luncheons, shows, theme parks, hospital visits, and more rehearsals.  She had the time of her life.  Mom and Dad left her in excellent hands with the Miss America Outstanding Organization and had a stress free week, seeing her once or twice/day during dinner, visitations and shows.  Arianna did all the work. 

The work and fun culminated in 3 preliminaries and the final show.  Wednesday, August 17, 2005 was the first night for Arianna.  It was comprised of Evening Gown and Active Wear.  The excellent opening number had all 52 contestants in which Arianna exploded on stage with her great presence.  Dad was her escort and looked quite dapper in his Regis monochromatic charcoal grey suit, shirt and tie.  He was the proud papa as he walked her down the aisle in her exquisite fairy tale gown studded in AB Swarovski crystals throughout the entire dress.  The skirt had enough fullness to make her look beautiful and elegant.  She had a smile a mile wide as she hugged dad and as he kissed her.  Active Wear was fun for her as she got to show off her physical prowess and the dance moves they put together. 

Thursday night’s prelim had Arianna doing Casual Wear and an On Stage Question.  She looked adorable in her yellow and fuschia tank top and crisp clean white capris.  She accented her ensemble with a puka necklace and bracelet, fuschia earrings, fuschia lace belt and fuschia wedge shoes.  Her question was “What do you do in a difficult situation and how do you handle it?”  She answered confidently and quickly that she depends on her moral compass which shows her the right way and then follows it.  She did great.

Friday, the 19^th was the final prelim and she performed her talent.  She did a powerful rendition of "Don't Rain On My Parade" and blew the audiences away.  There was some very very tough competititon with dancers, tappers, singers, dancers and pianists.  Her performance was alive, bouncing and exciting to watch.  Her last note was sustained with such clarity that the entire audience went wild.  I was worried because she has done well in the past and not won so I never call it with her.  So Dad, and the entire audience was estactic when they announced her name for the preliminary talent portion.  She competed against 16 other girls so it was quite an honor. 

August 20, the final night was fantastic.  I was not nervous because I knew Arianna would do her best and do us proud.  Because talent is such a big part of the score, it was pretty safe to assume she would get into the top 15 which was in and of itself a great honor.  I would have been happy with that.  So when they called her name second, I was so happy and breathed a sigh of relief.  Anything after that would be icing on the cake of a perfect week for her.  I will say I was hoping for top 10 so she could perform one more time. 

They called the top ten slowly and painstakingly.  She waited patiently in the background until the very last girl was called for top 10.  Miss California!!!!  We could die happy at that point.  She did her talent again, even better than the night before.  She rocked the house.  She did another active wear and then they narrowed to the top 5.  At this point we were thrilled she had made it to the top 10 so what happened next floored us.  Again they called each girl slowly, Utah, Washington, Texas, Florida and last but definitely not least was CALIFORNIA.  Then it was surreal.  They asked each of the girls a question and Arianna had a articulate, succinct answer and did great.  Then the final moment came: 

4th Runner up and a recipient of a $5,000 scholarship, Miss Utah, 17 years old

3rd Runner up and a recipient of a $10,000 scholarship, Miss Florida, 17 years old

2nd Runner up and a recipient of a $15,000 scholarship, Miss Washington, 16 years old 

1st Runner up and a recipient of a $20,000 scholarship, Miss California, 13 years old

Winner and a recipient of a $30,000 scholarship, Miss Texas, 17 years old

This was the best moment of her life, she was so thrilled.   To have made it so far at such a young age competing against so many 16 and 17 year olds was such an achievement.  She was the favorite of her peers/contestants and they all cheered her on and winning San Diego, California and 1st runner up in the Miss America Outstanding Teen all on her first try out was such a victory and honor.  This was an experience of a lifetime and we are all so proud of her.