The Miss America Opportunity, one of the most popular scholarship opportunities for women, is allowing more talents for women to compete with: ballroom dancing and cheerleading.
In 2023 with fairly new direction under CEO Robin Fleming, Miss America introduced “HerStory” another option for delegates to take advantage of for talent. HerStory consists of a 90-second speech on a topic of the delegate’s choosing. This means if they don’t necessarily want to compete with more traditional talents, they can take advantage of great stage presence with their own TED Talk. Miss America 2024 Madison Marsh won with her HerStory speech about her first active-duty Air Force experience.
The new talents, ballroom dancing and cheerleading, open the door for even more participants to feel welcomed into the competition.
According to the Miss America newsletter, there are guidelines that these talents need to follow, much like the usual rules delegates are familiar with.
“Each talent performance, whether ballroom dancing or cheerleading, will remain 90 seconds long,” the newsletter read. “If your performance involves a ballroom or cheerleading partner prop, they must be dressed in all black. Solo performances by partner props are not permitted.”
For more information about the rules and guidelines, or to compete, visit the official Miss America website.
First & Jenn 
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