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closeMonday, Jul. 20, 2009
New Miss Tri-Cities promotes mentors
By Michelle Dupler, Herald staff writer
Jerrica Fowler wasn't one of the little girls glued eagerly to a flickering television screen as the Miss America pageant rolled around each year.
"I was a tomboy growing up," she said.
It was a friend who encouraged Fowler to enter the Miss Tri-Cities pageant, leading to the 20-year-old Kennewick woman winning the crown on her second try on Saturday night.
She was the second runner-up in 2008 and decided to try again this year to see if she could go all the way.
"(I was in) shock," Fowler said of the moment the emcees announced her name as the winner. "The only thing going through my mind was, 'Wow. I did it. They called my name.' I don't know if it's quite worn off yet."
Along with an official sparkling Miss America crown, Fowler won a $10,000 scholarship from community sponsors and the Tri-City Water Follies Association, in-kind scholarships from Columbia Basin College and Washington State University, a wardrobe grant, entry into the Miss Washington pageant, and a cornucopia of gifts from a coronation bouquet to a set of eyelash extensions.
She also won the opportunity to spend the next year convincing people in the Tri-City community that they should mentor young people.
Fowler, who will enter WSU Tri-Cities this fall as a psychology major, said she fell into mentoring by tutoring a few children, but finding they needed help and encouragement with more than just their school work.
"Seeing them flourish has been a great experience," she said.
Fowler has had a number of mentors of her own: her sixth-grade teacher and Miss Tri-Cities Director Dot Stewart among them.
A thing or two also may have rubbed off when she worked with Marie Osmond and Jesus Christ Superstar star Ted Neeley when each of them appeared in a show in the Tri-Cities.
"The people I've worked with professionally do everything to make their show great," she said. "They were great to learn from."
And yet she wasn't pulled toward a career in acting or musical theater, despite being an accomplished pianist and a theater major at CBC until graduating this past year.
Her parents encouraged her to finish her degree and think about her future, and she ended up falling in love with psychology.
"I think it's the chance of getting to help people," she said. "It's a big draw."
Her dream is to earn a Ph.D. and one day open her own mental health clinic.
But first she'll have to juggle the demands of being a student with those of being Miss Tri-Cities, and a contestant for Miss Washington -- and maybe Miss America -- in 2010.
"I think it's going to be a great year," Fowler said. "The doors that are going to be opening for me, the things I'm going to explore. ... I think it's going to be a different kind of challenge."
-- Michelle Dupler: 582-1543; mdupler@tricityherald.com
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