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15/12/2019
By David Hayes Staff Writer Dec 17, 2019
Soonok Park will be one of 51 very nervous moms on Thursday, when her daughter takes the stage to compete for the title of Miss America.
Park, an art teacher at Crescent Elk Middle School, has taken her winter break vacation a little early this year to attend the Miss America Pageant at the Mohegan Sun casino and event center in Mystic Country, Connecticut.
Her daughter, Eileen Kim, is seeking to become the first Miss California to win the crown since 1983.
Park, born in South Korea and raised in Minnesota, has taught at Crescent Elk for three years.
She said her daughter’s journey began as a way to pay for college. “We started looking for scholarships and (the Miss California competition) was the largest,” Park said.
Kim was attending Chapman University in Orange, Calkifornia, pursuing a degree in international business administration. Park said her daughter almost didn’t become just the third Asian to win the Miss California title.
Kim’s first three tries in competition as Miss Culver City resulted in a top-15 placement, top-7 - and nothing the third year.
Park said Kim almost didn’t apply during her senior year in college, but chose to ignore the one bad result from the previous three tries. The fourth time proved to be the charm.
The Miss California competition in recent years has de-emphasized physical appearance, focusing more on talent and social projects. Kim won the talent competition, giving a virtuoso performance on the violin, having played the instrument since she was 3, Park said.
She chose as her social impact topic, “Let’s Talk: Opening the Discussion Surrounding Self-Harm and Developing Healthy Coping Mechanisms.”
When Kim was announced the winner, Park said she didn’t know which of the two of them was the more surprised. “I was screaming and crying. I couldn’t hear what they were saying. Everyone was cheering. It was really overwhelming,” Park said.
The Miss America Pageant has also de-emphasized the physical appearance portion of the competition, having eliminated the swimsuit competition of judging last year.
Organizers said this gives the candidates “opportunities to advocate for their social impact initiatives and to demonstrate how they are uniquely qualified for the exciting and challenging 365-day job of being Miss America.”
Kim, who graduated from Chapman University earlier this year, already has won a total of $36,500 in scholarship money in the Miss California competitions, including a top prize of $25,000 for the title.
Park said her daughter plans to put any further winnings toward attending law school, adding this should inspire local students to investigate other scholarship opportunities out there.
“Crescent City is a small community. I encourage students to explore the outside world. There are some really good scholarships out there. Use them like we did,” Park said.
The Miss America 2020 Competition airs at 5 p.m. Dec. 19 on NBC.
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