Miss Indiana to compete for Miss America crown

Indiana University said farewell and good luck to Miss Indiana 2013, Terrin Thomas, as she prepares to compete Sept. 15 in Atlantic City for the Miss America title.

Thomas, an IU junior, won the Miss Indiana University contest in February and the Miss Indiana contest in June.

Thomas’s send-off party commenced Saturday in the Frangipani Room at the Indiana Memorial Union where friends, family and colleagues watched a preview of Thomas’s competition wardrobe and talent performance.

The evening began with refreshments and greetings as a piano played from the front of the room where Thomas débuted her outfits for the Miss America competition.

The preview included her arrival dress, visitation dress, interview attire and evening gown. She will also be displaying her Hoosier pride on the national stage with a candy-striped, IU basketball-inspired outfit, complete with cream and crimson heels for the Miss America Parade.

“Terrin is more than just the beautiful clothes that you see,” said Shelli Yoder, former Miss Indiana and former democratic candidate for Congress. “We all celebrate Terrin for who she is, and it’s really her beauty that shines forth in all of these clothes and shoes that she is putting on. Miss America is not about who she is when people are watching, it’s about who she is when people aren’t watching. And that is what Terrin is about.”

Fellow Miss Indiana pageant competitors came to the preview to support Thomas as she takes the next steps in her quest for the national crown.

“You know it’s a great thing when six or seven of Terrin’s fellow contestants come to show their support as she gets ready to go to Atlantic City,” Miss Indiana pageant co-director Frank Ricketts said.

With Thomas on her way to the pageant, second runner-up at the Miss IU pageant, senior Mallory Essig, has agreed to take on the role as the new IU representative.

“We are the only local pageant in the Miss America system in Indiana where a student organization actually produces, promotes and recruits,” said Teresa White, Miss IU student organization advisor. “Terrin truly is a representative of our student organization, and of what top-notch students we have here at Indiana University.”