Great River Entertainment/Pzazz! sponsored a brunch on Sunday, May 16, 2010 featuring Olivia Myers Baker, Miss Iowa 2008 and the 2009 Miss America 2nd Runner Up. Ms. Myers Baker presented a PowerPoint slideshow, videos and photos to describe what really happens during the weeks leading up to and during the actual Miss America Pageant. All proceeds benefitted scholarships at Southeastern Community College.
In 2009, second runner-up honors and a $20,000 scholarship were awarded to Miss Iowa Olivia Myers at the Miss America pageant. Her talent was a tap dance to “Fever,” and her personal platform was “Teaching Tolerance: Fostering a Just and Caring Culture from the Classroom Out.” It’s believed that Myers’ finish is the highest for a Miss Iowa since Catherine Ann Lemkau of Muscatine was first runner-up in 1992.
Miss Iowa 2008 Olivia Myers Baker shares pageant advice with Little Miss Burlington 2009 Katie Conner.
Myers said she had always dreamed of being in the Miss America pageant. “I began dancing when I was 5 years old, and shortly after that, I watched my first Miss America pageant on TV and knew right away that was something I wanted to do,” she said. Myers — whose hometown, Sperry, is north of Burlington — won the title of Miss Burlington in 2007 and was later named Miss Iowa in 2008.
After that, she took to the sea with titleholders from other states, living on the Queen Mary as part of the “Countdown to the Crown” reality series on TLC. “The schedule was really grueling, with days ending at 12:30 a.m. and including lots of retakes. They call it ‘reality’ but it’s really contrived.” Still, she enjoyed the experience and the friends she made.
Myers said she couldn’t believe how far she made it in the competition. “I had prepared myself mentally, kind of tried to believe that I could become Miss America,” she said. “But when you get there and you’re going through the competition, it’s almost hard to fathom that even happening, and so to come so close was really exciting.”
In August 2009, Ms. Myers wed her long-time beau, Clay Baker, son of SCC Foundation Board member, Denise Baker. Clay and Olivia live in Iowa City. Olivia is student teaching history at Jefferson High School in Cedar Rapids and graduated from the University of Iowa on May 14, giving the commencement speech to her Education Department classmates. She hopes to find a teaching job in the vicinity. Clay is currently working for the Belin-Blank Center for Talented and Gifted Education at the University. He will begin law school at the University of Iowa this fall.
Other area “royalty” also attended the May 16 brunch, including Little Miss Burlington Katie Conner, Junior Miss Burlington Alexa Jeager, Miss Outstanding Teen Paige Amenell, and Miss Burlington Randina Elsner. Both Ms. Conner and Ms. Jaeger performed dance routines.
