Megan Gould, a 2013 graduate from Alliance High School, was crowned Miss Omaha on Saturday, November 9. Gould is a student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She performed a lyrical dance to “Whenever You Remember” by Carrie Underwood. Megan said “It is one of my favorite songs I have ever danced to and I am going to use the same song to compete for Miss Nebraska.” Megan also said “I took dance lessons for fifteen years from Kathy Lybarger and she helped me grow in my love for dance and I love getting to share my talent with audiences.”

As Miss Omaha Megan will represent Omaha at the Miss Nebraska Competition in June. The winner of Miss Nebraska gets to compete at Miss America, ”Which would be a huge honor,” said Gould. As Miss Omaha, Megan will also be involved at various charities and fundraising events throughout Omaha and the entire state. Gould will be fundraising for the Children’s Miracle Network, which is the charity of the Miss America Organization. Megan is hoping to hold some fundraisers both in Omaha and Alliance, her donation page is : http://www.missamericaforkids.org/Donate/megangould. Megan said “Additionally, I will volunteer a lot of my time to be involved with after school programs and to read books to children at story times. I will also participate in parades and speak to various audiences to promote my platform about working hard in school to be able to graduate and become successful adults.”

“I was nervous going on state but I had a lot of friends in the crowds yelling ‘GO MEGAN’ which helped to make me more confident”, states Megan. There were many areas in the pageant that she had to prepare for such as: interview, physical fitness, talent, evening wear, and onstage question. To prepare for the interview and onstage question portions of the competition, Megan studied current events so she had knowledge about what was happening around the world, she also had her friends and mentors ask her practice questions so that she was ready for any kind of question the judges might have asked. Megan also had to prepare for physical fitness but living an active life style and the evening wear competition by practicing how to walk in her dress and heels.

There are a lot of reasons why Megan likes and wants to continue to compete in pageants but they all come down to the great opportunities that are offered. Megan said “One reason is there is the opportunity to win a lot of scholarship money.” Megan won over $16,000 in scholarships to various colleges around Eastern Nebraska. As being Miss Omaha, Megan gets the opportunity to volunteer and be very involved in the community, which creates many amazing experiences. Megan said “competing is a great way to grow as a person and to become more confident in everything that I do.”