By Camryn Stroupe, Opinion Editor
The annual Miss Ouachita Baptist University pageant was held this past Saturday, Feb. 1, in Jones Performing Arts Center. Sophomore Ava Weeks from Conway, Arkansas, sponsored by the Women of EEE, took home the title of Miss OBU 2025. Weeks will compete as Miss OBU in the Miss Arkansas Competition this upcoming June.
The Miss America Organization provides many opportunities for young women across the nation, with an average of over five million dollars in scholarships given to pageant participants each year. Sarah Teed, Executive Director of Miss OBU, elaborated on what the Miss America Organization stands for. “The Miss America Organization is special because it provides young women the opportunity to develop life-long skills, meet other like-minded women, cultivate their own personal style, pursue educational and career goals through scholarships and serve their communities in ways that inspire meaningful change in the world around them,” Teed said. “The Miss America Organization is the largest provider of scholarships for young women in the United States.”
The Miss OBU Organization within the Miss America Organization has had a rich history since 1967. “The Miss OBU Competition hopes to encourage young women on campus to be the very best that God made them to be and provide a platform for them to share and shine their light with and make a difference in the world around them,” Teed said. “It encourages young women to represent OBU on campus, in the community and in the state as role models with strong Christian character, morals and values, to pursue educational and career goals through scholarships, develop traits such as self-discipline, self-confidence, leadership and communication skills that will benefit them in all areas of life, take an interest in, understand, and be able to discuss current events and important issues in the world around them, be active and prioritize health and fitness, develop friendships with other like-minded young women, volunteer and give back to their communities through service platforms that they develop and are passionate about and use the unique gifts and to use talents God has blessed them with to influence others for God’s glory.”
The previous Miss OBU, Bailey Gibson, has been an exemplary Miss OBU in her year of service and looks fondly on her time with the title. “What an incredible year it has been serving as Miss Ouachita Baptist University,” Gibson reflected in her parting letter in the pageant’s program. “Representing a place so dear to my heart has been a deeply rewarding experience. This year, I have had the privilege of following in the footsteps of the fifty-six remarkable women who have held this title before me. It has been humbling to contribute my chapter to the legacy they have created. I grew up watching Miss OBU and dreamed about the possibility of gracing the JPAC stage. When I decided to attend Ouachita, I knew that competing in the Miss OBU competition was in my future. Competing as a senior turned out to be the perfect opportunity, as it allowed me to bring together the relationships I had formed and the knowledge I had gained during my time at Ouachita. Representing the Women of Gamma Phi made the experience even more meaningful. I will never forget how special it was to have my social club sisters cheering me on from the audience. My senior year was also ideal for combining my business education with my community service initiative, ‘Invest in the Future: Financial Literacy.’”
Weeks’ crown was truly a dream come true, as she had grown up wishing to compete in the pageant. “Growing up I remember seeing my mom’s Miss OBU 1992 portrait in our hallway and I had always dreamed of wearing that crown and representing a school that has meant so much to my family and me,” Weeks said. “My grandmother and grandfather met and fell in love at Ouachita and went on to have 5 children. They all attended Ouachita and the youngest is my mother April Gosser. Each generation has contributed so much to Ouachita and I wanted to contribute to a school that has invested so much to me by being Miss OBU.”
In having such a rich family history at Ouachita, winning the title of Miss OBU was a moment of mother-daughter connection. “The moment they called my name as the next Miss OBU 2025, I was filled with nothing but gratitude,” Weeks said. “I was beyond excited to share this amazing sisterhood with my momma, and I couldn’t wait to give her the biggest hug.The best memory was getting to hug my momma after winning the crown and being able to share the same moment she experienced 30 years ago. She was so excited, and I will never forget that moment.”
Weeks’ Community Service Initiative was “Buckle Up Back Seat,” encouraging education on the importance of wearing seat belts even in the rear of a vehicle. “This issue became very real to me after witnessing a fatal car accident when I was 14,” Weeks said. “My family was driving home on the interstate, and two cars collided and violently rolled over each other into the median. My stepfather pulled over and jumped out of the car to help. The missing young man was thrown twenty yards from the car and died in my stepfather’s arms. Four passengers wearing seat belts walked away with minor injuries, and the only unrestrained back seat passenger lost his life. This made me determined to raise awareness of wearing a seat belt as a rear passenger and to the establishment of my community service initiative, Buckle Up Back Seat.”
Weeks sang “Climb Every Mountain” from “The Sound of Music” as her talent performance. “My goal was to inspire the audience with a song that encourages people to follow their dreams and do whatever it takes to get there,” Weeks said. “I have always loved singing and performing and knew that I wanted to share that at Miss OBU.”
Winning first runner-up to Miss OBU was sophomore Kidron Romoser with the platform “Voices of Change” and a vocal performance of “Monster” from the Broadway musical “Frozen.” “This was my first pageant and was a great experience,” Romoser said. “I will definitely do it again. I think it was something really empowering for me because I’ve never done something like this before. It was neat to get to do it with these girls and befriend these people that I normally never would have come into contact with. I plan to compete in the Texarkana Twin Rivers Competition at Henderson in a few weeks after this experience.”
Also competing in the pageant were freshman Amy Garcia with the platform “It’s Okay to Speak Up: A Fight Against Substance Abuse” and vocal performance of “Mariposa de Barrio,” sophomore Lydia Crow with the platform “The Power of Positive Words” and dance performance to “Smooth Criminal” by Michael Jackson, sophomore Avery Smith with the platform “Building Character through Chores” and vocal performance of “On My Own” from the Broadway musical “Les Miserables,” junior Diana Taylor with the platform “Beyond the Uniform: Empowering Veterans” and vocal performance of “I’m Not That Girl” from the Broadway musical “Wicked,” junior Madilyn Davis with the platform “STEM Ignition: Empowering Middle and High School Students to Explore the Sciences” and a piano and vocal performance of “Vienna” by Billy Joel and junior Olivia Taylor with the platform “Invest for Success” and vocal performance of “A Million Dreams” from “The Greatest Showman.”
The Miss OBU competition this year, as it has been every year, is truly like no other. From Miss OBU’s Court of Honor featuring familiar Ouachita vocalists to visiting past crown holders and other royalty such as Miss Southeast Arkansas Kensley Flynn, Miss Arkansas Camille Cathey and the newly crowned Miss Arkansas’ Teen Bella Crowe, to the plethora of scholarships and awards given during the competition, the pageant brings a perfect blend of tradition, opportunity and new beginnings. “There is truly no other competition like the Miss OBU competition,” Weeks said. “When you’re on stage competing, and you see tons of people you know and love in the audience from school cheering you on and supporting you is an experience like no other. Being able to represent the university that I love so much is a dream come true and is unlike any other preliminary competition.”
