Wasilla teen seeks crowning achievement

WASILLA — By the time Angelina Klapperich’s Colony High School classmates were filing in for the first day of school Thursday, the Knights’ student body president was jetting to sunny Orlando, Fla.

No, she isn’t taking a last-minute summer vacation. The CHS junior will spend the next week representing Alaska in the Miss America’s Outstanding Teen competition. The pageant is what Klapperich describes as “Miss America for teens.”

Like its sister competition for women, Outstanding Teen offers a way for girls to gain confidence and earn college scholarships, she said. Klapperich qualified for the national stage by winning the Miss Alaska Outstanding Teen pageant in June. Along with her title and crown, the 16-year-old also won two full years of scholarships to the University of Alaska Anchorage.

Bubbly and upbeat, it’s easy to believe Angelina’s the daughter of Mat-Su Borough School District Teacher of the Year Linda Jo Klapperich. The elder Klapperich, herself a former Miss Wisconsin, is known for her quirky sense of humor, which includes showing up to teach her Palmer Junior Middle School students dressed as a cow.

The apple may not fall far from the tree, Angelina said, insisting becoming involved in pageants was her idea at an early age.

“I started when I was 9 and I got involved with this program,” she said. “My mom was involved in pageants years ago, and I’m so glad I got involved in it. But she did not push me into it at all. I think it was my idea. I looked at her pictures and wanted to do that, too.”

Along with holding the title Miss Alaska Outstanding Teen comes a responsibility to be involved in the community and represent the program in a positive manner, she said. The week of events in Orlando, which officially start Saturday, so far hasn’t elevated the pressure level.

“My goal is to really just do my best and have fun so when I look back I can tell myself I wouldn’t have changed anything,” Angelina said. “I’ve practiced really hard on the piano and have found the perfect gown. It’s such an amazing opportunity.”

Like Miss America, teens compete in five categories: talent, interview, gown and on-stage question, fitness wear and academics. While Miss America is famous for its swimsuit contest, the youths have the more modest fitness wear. Academics is, well, academic, based on grade point average.

At 35 percent of a contestant’s total score, talent is the most important category, Angelina said. Hers is the piano. Interview is also a major part at 30 percent.

“They can ask you anything,” she said of the interview. “The things that usually trip up girls are maybe current events or political questions, so you have to keep up with what’s going on around you without offending anyone.”

It’s that last part, not being offensive, that can be tricky, she said.

“It’s really hard with politics because, no matter what, somebody’s going to be offended.” she said. “To tell you the truth, I’ve just seen that at the Miss America level, the national level for the older girls.”

While questions for teens are generally not as involved as the adult competitors, they can be tricky sometimes. Angelina recalls her hardest question, asked when she was 12.

“When I was younger at nationals I got asked, ‘How do you feel conservative politics affect women’s rights?’ Now I think I could answer that question fairly well, but at 12 I didn’t understand about conservative politics at all.”

Gown and on-stage question is another 20 percent of the overall score.

Angelina’s confident, but isn’t sure how well she’ll do at the national level.

“I really don’t know,” she said. “It’s so much different from the state level to the national level. All these girls are so talented.”

Stereotypes debunked

As an advocate of Miss Outstanding Teen, Angelina admits she can sometimes be frustrated by the stereotypes people hold for the girls and women who participate. For one thing, it’s not as cut-throat competitive as some believe.

“It’s the total opposite, even,” she said. “Oh, my gosh, we’re always trying to help each other, making friends backstage. I can’t wait to get back to Alaska with 53 friends from across the country. It’s a wonderful pageant.”

That people believe pageant participants are stuck-up or mean “is such a terrible stereotype,” she said. “Honestly, looking back, I can’t think of one pageant girl who fits that. I don’t know where that comes from, because they’re not superficial at all.”

There are, however, some interesting tricks people use at contests.

“There are some pretty silly pageant tricks,” she said. “I think people did … put Vaseline on their teeth, but the pageant girl’s best friend is probably hair spray. Can’t go anywhere without hair spray.”

As for the other tricks, Angelina joked that “only us girls can know the secrets.”

Future plans

After this year’s Miss America’s Outstanding Teen, Klapperich won’t be able to compete again until she’s an adult. She’ll take a break for two years, but plans to compete in the Miss Alaska pageant and attend college.

“Pageants certainly won’t be my entire life,” she said. “I’m planning on being in Miss Alaska for sure. I’ll start when I’m 19 and who knows, hopefully some day I’ll be at Miss America.”

Even without pageants, she has lofty goals for the future. “I’m thinking about going into pediatrics as a profession.”

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.