Morgan Berg, a junior nursing major, competed in the Miss Boston pageant Sunday, Feb. 19. Berg hails from Lakeville, Minn., is a triplet and also happens to be a UMass Boston student. The Miss Boston pageant was held at the Omni Parker House Hotel in downtown Boston with 11 girls all vying for the crown. The winner of the competition will go on to compete in the Miss Massachusetts pageant and eventually will have the possibility of competing in the Miss America pageant. Berg sat down with The Mass Media and told us more about the pageant and why she feels she “already could be Miss Boston.”
Did you compete in pageants while growing up in Minnesota?
I was Miss Lakeville which is where I’m from, but it was much more low key. We didn’t have to do swimwear or talent or anything like that so it was basically interviews but nothing like the Miss America organization.
How old were you when you stared competing in pageants?
I won Miss Lakeville when I was 17, and that was the [first] thing I’ve ever done.
Besides winning scholarship money, what do you feel you personally gain from competing in the Boston pageant?
I think the Miss Boston pageant allows you to give back to your community… [it] also gives you the opportunity to promote your own platform and my platform is called Fit for Success. It’s basically teaching children the importance of health and exercising starting at an early age and so being part of the Miss Boston pageant organization allows you to kind of voice your platform to the community and promote whatever cause you choose to promote.
What is the pageant made up of?
It starts with an interview, and that is 25% of your score. After the interview when the actual pageant starts we have an opening number which isn’t judged. It’s basically just where everyone introduces themselves and then the competition portion consists of talent, swimwear, evening gown and an onstage question which is basically like an interview it’s just one question on current events.
What are you doing for the talent portion?
Dancing. It’s like jazz dance. It’s to a song I danced to in high school.
What’s it like to display yourself and put yourself out there in front of so many people?
It’s an experience; I think it takes a lot of guts to get on stage in a swimsuit and I’ve never done it before… it’s hard to put yourself out there in front of hundreds of people and feel confident about it but it also makes you more confident in the process because you’re putting yourself out there.
Luckily the Miss America organization is so focused not on beauty but who the person is, where they come from, what their cause is, what they’re promoting, so it‘s nice that I don’t feel like I’m going into a beauty pageant.
What do you think makes you stand out in this pageant?
I believe that I’m really down to earth, [and] I feel like this is something that I really have prepared for and I think it really suits my personality. So I feel like it’s something that I’m just applying myself to. Instead of trying to become Miss Boston, I feel like I already could be Miss Boston.
Why do you want to win?
I really want to be a role model for health, like I said, Fit for Success is my platform, and I believe that childhood obesity has become such a large issue throughout America today and as Miss Boston I want to directly teach children ways to become healthy and to keep those healthy habits throughout their lifetime.
Besides that… Miss Boston offers a scholarship which I could really use, I pay out of state tuition, so having a scholarship and being part of a scholarship organization is awesome and so important for me … I want to continue my education… and so a scholarship would help me do that.
The Results:
The Miss Boston crown went to Harvard College student Kelsey Beck, with Morgan coming in second place as first runner up. Morgan walked away winning three additional prizes as well, including the Lifestyle and Fitness award (better known as the swimsuit competition), The “Walk, Talk, and Win” interview award, and was the Children’s Miracle Maker for raising upwards of $600 in donations. When asked if she will compete in another pageant again, Morgan answered, “Absolutely!”
