Dobelle sold on Miss America pageant's merits
By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Education Writer
When University of Hawai'i President Evan Dobelle was approached about being a judge for the upcoming Miss America pageant, he was skeptical about whether a college president should be in Atlantic City helping to pick a beauty queen.
Advertiser library photo
So he sought out Hawai'i's own 2001 Miss America, Angela Baraquio, for advice and she convinced him it was a worthwhile American institution that touches the lives of thousands of women every year while offering more than $40 million annually in college scholarships.
UH President Evan Dobelle will be one of seven judges who pick the next Miss America.
Baraquio won $100,000 in scholarships over three years in the Miss America and preliminary pageants, enabling her to pay off college loans.
"It literally can change someone's life overnight," she told him when they met for lunch.
Dobelle was sold. In two weeks, he will be one of seven judges who pick the next Miss America.
"Angie said, 'You'll see that the beauty part is only about 15 percent,' " Dobelle said. "The reality is you're looking for someone in the best sense to represent what you would want every woman to represent. They're intelligent, poised, articulate, hard-working, organized, beautiful and have a community-service social conscience. It's a package.
"And just about every one of them are college students."
Advertiser library photo • Nov. 11, 2000
As the first teacher and Asian American to win the pageant in its 80-year history, Baraquio logged 20,000 miles a month in appearances, spoke to thousands of people — many of them schoolteachers — met with President Bush twice, testified before the National Governor's Conference, the Education Caucus on Capitol Hill, and a number of state legislatures.
Hawai'i's Angela Baraquio, Miss America 2001, helped convince Evan Dobelle that the pageant is a worthwhile American institution.
Her emphasis was on teaching character and values in the classroom and she is now setting up a foundation to continue that effort as she starts work on her master's degree in Education Administration at UH.
"Why are (Miss America contestants) different from athletes or others who compete?" Dobelle asked.
It hadn't occurred to him that his participation might create a backlash from campus feminists.
"I understand what they might say and if it was 50 years ago I would agree with them," he said. "But it isn't. It's a different deal. Like every American institution, they've had transitions and this has transitioned into the largest women's scholarship event and that's impressive."
There was no disapproval when Baraquio served as one of this year's UH commencement speakers, he said.
Dobelle joins a judging panel made up of 1964 Miss America Donna Whitworth, now a motivational speaker and TV host; concert pianist Jose Feghali, winner of the gold medal at the seventh Van Cliburn International Piano Competition; James Matthew Jones, founding executive vice president of The Vaccine Fund, set up with a gift from Bill and Melinda Gates to vaccinate Third-World children; network news executive producer Tamara Haddad; nationally known educator Gwendolyn Calvert Baker; and journalist Kay Casstevens, currently deputy chief of staff for Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening.
Dobelle was invited at the request of one of last year's judges, John Dalton, a former Secretary of the Navy and old friend. The pageant also makes a point of inviting prominent people from the home state of previous Miss Americas.
