Miss Mississippi prepares for her Miss America debut

Mary Margaret Hyer has the judges interview Friday morning in Connecticut

By Maggie Wade | December 12, 2019 at 11:27 PM CST - Updated December 12 at 11:28 PM

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - We continue our exclusive coverage of Miss Mississippi 2019 Mary Margaret Hyer. Miss Mississippi is already in Connecticut to begin preliminary competition. Miss Mississippi will have personal interview with the judges Friday.

Instead of Evening gown, candidates will have on stage Question and their Social Impact Pitch. Thursday night Miss Mississippi along with the other candidates participated in the official arrival ceremony.

Mary Margaret Hyer is among the 51 state candidates hoping to become the next Miss America. (Source: Facebook)

Preparing to be at the Miss America competition for at least two weeks, takes time, organization and quite a wardrobe. Miss Mississippi Mary Margaret Hyer has help from volunteers but she does most of the leg work herself. We caught up with her at Mia Bella in Flowood, one of the Miss Mississippi sponsors.

.
Mary Margaret Hyer will need enough clothing for nearly two weeks at the Miss America competition. (Source: WLBT)

Hyer said, every single day I mean if I know I have an appearance coming up and I need something to wear, I can drop into Mia Bella. Every six thousand miles I get a new car from George Carr. I'm wearing hair extensions right now that are from Vamp. It's just incredible to have this team that supports and lifts me up and really is so generous and just wants me to have my best Miss America experience and my best Miss Mississippi experience."

Miss Mississippi has an eye for detail. Each outfit will make a statement and she will be scrutinized by both the judges as well as followers of the Miss America competition. Hyer says she made the choice after three tries at Miss Mississippi to take a different approach to the competition.

Miss Mississippi is the third contestant in the Mu Group at Miss America. (Source: WLBT)

Hyer told us, "my first two years competing at Miss Mississippi I did not deserve to win because I was doing what you are supposed to do to win Miss Mississippi. I was singing pop music even though I'm an opera singer. I was wearing white dresses even though I'm not a white dress kind of girl and my third year, I just thought you know this has not worked for me in the past so I'm just gonna be me. And I wore a blue dress because that's what I felt beautiful in and I won."

Miss Mississippi hopes instead of putting so much weight on wardrobe or talent more people will focus on the real purpose of Miss America, scholarships for education.

Hyer explained, “I think scholarship is the most unrecognized portion of the Miss America competition. People see us as pageant girls who like to wear pretty dresses and maybe have a talent but ultimately we are young professionals who are competing for the scholarship money so that we can advance ourselves educationally and in the workforce.”

Miss America Nia Franklin was awarded a 50 thousand dollar scholarship.

Thursday, December 19th don’t miss a special look inside the preparations for Miss America, Countdown to the Crown at 6:30 p.m. then at 7 p.m. Miss America 2.0 live right here on WLBT.

https://www.wlbt.com/2019/12/13/miss-mississippi-prepares-her-miss-america-debut/