Photos by Courtney Pedroza
A dozen Taylor Place residents raised nearly $500 in the first ever Miss Taylor Place pageant, a fundraiser started by ASU downtown residential leaders to donate money to the Arizona Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
Journalism freshman Katy Burge won the overall Miss Taylor Place award and journalism freshman Madison Alder won the Purple Heart award for raising $185, the most money collected.
“It was so much fun and awesome to see how pretty everyone looked, and all the odes and talent was just great,” Burge said. “I’m just thankful for the judges choosing me to be Miss Taylor Place and it’s an honor.”
The theme of the event, while entertaining in nature, had a sobering undertone. The hosts said 85 percent of domestic violence victims are women, and domestic violence will affect one in four women.
For a week prior to the event, the contestants raised money in purple containers. During the Q&A portion, all of the contestants wore purple, the color associated with domestic violence awareness.
The pageant, held in the Shade Garden of Taylor Place, was broken into five sections. Each was rated on a point scale of one to five.
The women were first introduced wearing professional outfits that related to their potential future careers–nursing majors wore scrubs, while another women wore an army uniform.
Next, the women were each asked a different question along the lines of, “What is your favorite M&G hotspot?” or “If you were a shoe, what shoe would you be?”
Women gave “odes” to the person whom they believed was the most important contributor to their Taylor Place experience. Contestant Jessie Stone talked about her residential leader, Ciara Archer, and pulled her to the front.
“I love Jessie and I’m so proud of her,” Archer said. “Unfortunately she’s not feeling well tonight, and I’m proud that she got up and did this whole thing…it was a real honor for her to write an ode to me.”
Most of the women picked a residential leader on their floor but contestant Burge did an ode–jam packed with breakfast puns–to a kitchen staff member known as ‘Richard the Omelet Guy.’
During the talent section, the women either sang or played the guitar. Different styles were represented from jazz to pop songs. Burge sang a mash-up of her favorite songs while her friend, journalism freshman Zac Pacleb, played the guitar.
Pacleb said he enjoyed working with Burge for the talent portion.
“Katy is my best friend, and it was just a good reason to hang out and I always want to help her,” Pacleb said. “It was also for a good cause, so it was a lot of fun.”
Judge Krystal Richard said Burge won the title of Miss Taylor Place by two points.
“What I loved about the Miss Taylor Place awards was the creativity and the display of sisterhood,” Richard said, “And the fact that they brought awareness to something that really needed to be given attention.”
Contact the reporter at Shaianne.Perez@asu.edu
