Elana Dodson, daughter of Patricia Dodson of Bland and Kenneth Gehlert of Belle, was recently appointed Miss America Teen Sweetheart. Elana is entering her senior year at Linn High School in Linn. She is active in the school’s Chamber Choir and Drama Club. She is currently applying to colleges where she plans on majoring in Musical Theatre. During the COVID-19 quarantine Elana has been continuing her music and drama coaching with Broadway Actor Jordan Craig who stars on Broadway as Raoul in Phantom of the Opera.
Since obtaining the title of Miss America Teen Sweetheart, Elana has participated in the Belle Fair Parade and made a brief appearance around the fairgrounds at the Osage County Fair in Linn. During her first month of becoming the National Queen, Elana has made appearances throughout Iowa, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and Nebraska, all while maintaining social distancing and wearing a mask when required. She is looking forward to continuing to spread her message about how bullying is never okay, and has joined other state and national queens on social media by posting uplifting posts and spreading awareness through the #beautiesagainstbullies which is a pageant wide hash tag against bullying.
Miss America Sweetheart is a pageant system that began in 2018 from a pageant director who oversaw five states in the South. The idea of letting these States compete against each other for scholarships and a chance to move on to the international stage was something the original five queens and the pageant director wanted to try. This year all pageant systems are struggling with ideas on how to hold pageants, whether to crown new queens, or let current queens continue their reign for another year, as did the Miss America Pageant for the state’s queens. Miss Missouri 2019 is going to remain Miss Missouri for 2020. Miss America Sweetheart has taken to “zoom” pageants and crowning many through “virtual pageants” this year in hopes of having a quality national pageant in the summer of 2021. The newly appointed queens for 2020-2021 are eligible to go to Miss Teen International in autumn 2021.
Elana was appointed the Miss Missouri title Dec. 24, 2019 and spent a year making appearances around Missouri and made it to national’s as the 1st Runner Up to Miss America Sweetheart Jr. Teen. The pageant system awarded Elana the national title based on scores from formal wear, athletic wear, one on one interviews, and talent. They added in school grades and how teachers perceive her as a student as a whole. Miss America Sweetheart pageant is based on girls’ confidence, poise, and grace. It is a beauty pageant that wants a well-rounded queen who can show beauty and poise on the outside while maintaining confidence and grace on the inside.