UW Grad Miss Wisconsin talks pageant life and cheese curds

Miss Wisconsin 2016, Courtney Pelot, is a born and bred Wisconsinite who’s love for giving back to the community and cheese curds makes her the perfect girl for the job.

Growing up in the town of Manitowoc and moving to Madison to attend college, Courtney has a deeply rooted love for her state and her school. I had the opportunity to sit down with Courtney to learn everything there is to know about her time at UW-Madison, her successful pageant career, and her plans for the future.

Can you start by describing your four years on campus here? What were you involved in and what did you get your degree in?

My four years at UW-Madison were absolutely amazing. I ended up majoring in Communication Arts. I spent a little time in the textile and apparel design program where I gained a really great fashion background and met my best friend. I also took a lot of time in college to prepare myself by participating in many internships. I interned with bloggers like College Fashionista which was one of the biggest, most impactful parts of college.

I was a writer for 3 years and an editorial intern for a year, then was a social media intern where I really fell in love with marketing. Also, on campus I was involved with Moda, a fashion magazine on campus. That’s a little bit of a rundown of what I was typically involved in. I stayed pretty busy. Oh, and I ate lots of cheese curds!

During your senior year you were crowned Miss Green Bay Area and then Miss Wisconsin after graduating. When did you start competing in pageants and why did you start?

I began competing in pageants early on in my college career. I needed to figure out a way to actually pay for my time at Madison. My sophomore year I entered the Miss Madison Capitol City pageant.I didn’t really know what I was doing, but I came back my junior year to compete in two more locals. That is when I first competed in Miss Green Bay Area and was a runner up. Looking back, I wasn’t quite prepared to have a title, but going into my senior year I felt very prepared. I had just interned in New York where I became more independent and cultured, ultimately having experiences I needed to have before obtaining a crown. I came back my senior year and worked really hard first semester on building my platform. I would go home most weekends to volunteer with different organizations like Give a Kid a Book and the Brown County Library System. The Miss Green Bay Area pageant was the first weekend of second semester and I won, which after that I was going home every single weekend leading up to graduation to prepare for Miss Wisconsin.

What was it like preparing for Miss Wisconsin while completing your last semester of college?

I had a very detailed planner that was highlighted and color coded so I knew what was for pageants and what was for school. I selected elective classes that correlated with pageant preparation. Like, I would have never taken this otherwise, but I took a Global Insurgency Guerrilla Warfare class where I learned different perspectives on the War on Terror which really helped me formulate ideas and opinions for questions I would be asked on stage at Miss Wisconsin. Which goes to show even at school I was preparing for what I needed to be able to do on stage. It was a lot of work, but I loved doing it. That semester was so much fun! Crazy but fun.

What kind of support did you receive through it all?

My friends at school were all very much on board with the fact that I was in pageant mode. They were very helpful if I needed to avoid cheese curds for a while. They helped me with interview skills and we watched debates together. Also, my family was amazing during that time. I was traveling so much between home and school my parents would help out with laundry and other small things. They were always supportive of the fact that I wanted to compete in Miss Wisconsin and go on to Miss America. There was never a time where my mom, dad or brother weren’t there if I needed to talk about something or practice interview questions. My brother was the go-to sports question guy. Especially leading up to Miss America, we knew Mark Cuban was going to be a judge, and he wanted me to be prepared for anything and everything sports related.

What was it like being crowned Miss Wisconsin?

Some advice returning girls gave me was just to be yourself, so I was entirely Courtney the entire time. When it got to be finals night I wasn’t nervous, I was just excited at the possibility of even being in the finals. I made top 11 and then competed every event with the mentality  I was on the Miss America stage (because that was the ultimate goal). I just tried to be the best I could be. I made it to the top five and was having a mini heart attack, I was so excited. So I put my evening gown and went back on stage for top 5. Everyone around me was getting called then I was just standing there with the runner up which felt like five minutes but was actually only seconds. Once they called her name I just started balling and everything was a blur. I realized I was Miss Wisconsin, I didn’t need to hunt for a job, I was going to Miss America! The next two weeks after were just paper work head shots, picking out dresses, and already making appearances. It was exhilarating. Full force ahead.

How do you think becoming Miss Green Bay Area and then Miss Wisconsin ultimately effected your senior year experience?

Gaining those two titles was by far my biggest goal outside of school. When I won Miss Green Bay second semester I knew even though school was ending I would have that title for the next year and I also had the Miss Wisconsin pageant to focus on. After I graduated I had many offers to come in and interview with companies I was a campus ambassador for or interned with, but I really wanted to make preparing for Miss Wisconsin my full time job, and it definitely paid off. In my opinion being Miss Wisconsin is the best first job I could have had. Being able to compete in the Miss America pageant and be in Atlantic City for two weeks was an amazing experience.

How do you think your education from this specific school influenced your success in becoming Miss Wisconsin?

There is no doubt Madison is the school I needed to attend. I was able to receive such a diverse education and was able to take so many different classes in different departments. My Major is Communication Arts which definitely bodes well to the job of Miss Wisconsin, since a lot of what I do is communicate with people. There were also so many other classes I was able to take that I don’t think I would have been able to take at another school. Political classes, international studies classes, and my core communication classes just really prepared me for the job on stage and out interacting with the public.

Being Miss Wisconsin is very hands-on. What does your typical work day look like?

The job is to promote the Miss Wisconsin organization as the face of the brand, traveling the state of Wisconsin promoting your platform, mine is Open Books, Open Opportunity: Promoting literacy in our communities. I also speak on behalf of the Miss America platform which is Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. We bring the Book Bus to low income communities and give kids free books. When I’m not working on those projects I am making appearances wherever people want me. I love it. Every time I leave an appearance I’m smiling.

 

Two months after your crowning, you competed in Miss America, what was that competition like?

First we spent some time in DC for an orientation and got to meet everyone, and that was a time where we could really just relax and get to know each other in a non-competitive atmosphere. We were all so supportive of each other. At that level you know everyone is so accomplished and anyone could take the crown. We had so much fun.We already have a reunion planned. Between Miss Green Bay, Miss Wisconsin, and Miss America, I have received 16,000 dollars in scholarships and it all went toward my student loans. That is the beauty of the Miss America, it is first and foremost a scholarship organization.

What’s next?

I have nine more months in my reign as Miss Wisconsin, traveling around and making appearances and educating people about my platform. I realized through internships at the end of my senior year and now as a part of this organization I really want to do something with social media marketing and I would love to come back to Madison. I love this town more than anything. I take every single day and make the most of it. The time is flying and I need to use my time wisely to reach out to people, because I want to make the biggest impact I can. This experience has been so worth it.