Contestants will compete for crown
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on January 23, 2015 1:46 PM
Miss Goldsboro 2015 will be crowned Saturday night at the Paramount Theatre.
Seven contestants will vie for the title, with three others competing in the Outstanding Teen category.
Tickets for the pageant, which starts at 7 p.m., are currently on sale at the Paramount Theatre. The $16 tickets are general admission only this year and not assigned seats, noted Kimberly Best, executive director of the Miss Goldsboro Scholarship Program.
The local preliminary pageant is open to young ladies who live or work in Wayne, Duplin, Greene, Johnston, Lenoir, Nash, Orange, Pitt, Sampson, Wake and Wilson counties. Outstanding Teen contestants from any county across the state are eligible to compete.
The new queen will represent the community throughout the year and participate in local events, speaking engagements and also compete at the Miss North Carolina pageant in June. Goldsboro's Outstanding Teen will also compete at the state level at that time.
"The Miss Goldsboro program was started back in the 1930s and many young women from our community have received scholarship money as well as having assistance preparing for job skills through the years," Ms. Best said.
Goldsboro has been well represented at the state and national level in recent years.
Hailey Best Jernigan, Ms. Best's daughter, has gone far in the Miss America organization. In 2011, after being crowned Miss Durham, she earned the Miss North Carolina title and finished in the Top 15 at the Miss America Pageant.
The reigning Miss North Carolina, Beth Stovall, a 2011 Rosewood High School graduate, served as Miss Goldsboro 2013. She went on to place in the Top 10 at the state level. The following year she was crowned Miss Greater Sampson County, going on to become Miss North Carolina 2014 and competing in this year's Miss America Pageant.
Emily Tucker, Miss Goldsboro 2014, was in the Top 10 at the state pageant last spring. She has since been crowned Miss Greater Sampson County and will return to compete for Miss North Carolina in June.
She and the current Goldsboro Outstanding Teen, Rachel Brittain, from Fayetteville, will crown their successors this weekend.
Sharing mistress of ceremonies duties will be two former Miss Goldsboros, Blair Mozingo and Jill Suggs Howell.
The following contestants will be vying for the crown.
Sara Boltinhouse, 20, will sing for her talent. The 20-year-old senior at Campbell University is from Goldsboro. She graduated from Spring Creek High School in 2012 and was class valedictorian.
Bailee Daniels, 20, is also from Goldsboro. Now enrolled in the machining program at Wayne Community College, she graduated from Charles B. Aycock High School. Her talent is piano.
Emily Mitchell of Goldsboro, a graduate of Wayne Early/Middle College High School, is currently attending UNC-Wilmington. Her talent is dance.
Victoria Baskett, 21, is from Fayetteville. The junior at UNC-Chapel Hill will play the flute.
Chloe Lockyer, 20, is a junior at N.C. State University. The Statesville native will play the saxophone.
Jerenae Raeford, 20, a music education major at East Carolina University, will perform an operatic song for her talent. She is from Fayetteville.
Amelia Wilson, 21, is a junior at N.C. State University. From Raleigh, she will perform a tap dance.
The three Outstanding Teen contestants include Catherine White from Clayton, Lakelyn Bass from Newton Grove and Shae Malham from Goldsboro.