Miss Gateway

As many of you know, my pageant career I thought had ended after Miss Missouri this past June. I had competed without a break since age 5, and I really felt I needed to just be a performer not a competitor. Little did I know, some advice from friends, encouragement from my pageant board, and missing the pageant scene, I put my game face on and decided to compete in Miss Gateway St. Louis. I told myself I would do one, and one only. Well that's all it took. On Oct. 20, I traveled to St. Louis, sang Proud Mary for talent, and was crowned the 2008 Miss Gateway to the West!

A fun fact about being part of the Gateway board is my sister queen Tara Ossick used to be my Cinderella Pageant Sister back when we were 6 and 8 years old. That same year, Stefanie Hammersmith Dunlop ( Co- director for the Gateway Pageants) was our teen sister queen. So Tara was 6, I was 8 and Stefanie was around 15 and we all held titles the same year. Now here we are, back again! I feel very fortunate to be going into Miss MO for my last eligible year with the Miss Gateway board, I look forward to working with them, and I am so proud of my decision to come back.