Miss Florida Teen USA Pageant: Helping Young Women Meet Career Goals

Pageant will be held at the BCC Bailey Hall on October 4th and 5th 2008

HOLLYWOOD, Fla., Sept. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- When the current Miss Florida
Teen USA, Jillian Wunderlich, crowns her successor on October 5th, 2008, she
will be awarding much more than the coveted title. Each year the pageant's
winner receives a head start on her career path -- a $40,000 college
scholarship to Nova Southeastern University (NSU). Anastagia Pierre, Miss
Florida USA 2009, knows very well the value of this prize. She is currently
attending NSU on the scholarship she received when she won the Miss Florida
Teen USA title 4 years ago. According to Grant Gravitt, Executive Pageant
Director, "Each year, we have outstanding young women vying for the crown. The
scholarship is just one way our contestants can get a head start on their
future. We always say, watch these young women one day you could be working
for them."
In 2004, Anastagia Pierre vied for and won the coveted title of Miss
Florida Teen USA. She then took a break from pageant competition and focused
on her creative endeavors and her education. After graduating from Sagemont
School in Weston, she entered Nova Southeastern University with the $40,000
scholarship fund she earned as Miss Florida Teen USA. She is enrolled in
NSU's six-year physician's assistant program with studies in biology and
communications. According to pageant officials the event focuses on
self-esteem and empowerment. Participants are among the most dedicated and
career-minded young women in the state. This is true of the current Miss
Florida Teen USA 2008, Jillian Wunderlich. The 17 year-old from Fort Myers,
plans to be a business and hospitality major and hopes to get her pilot's
license soon.
Including the NSU scholarship, the Miss Florida Teen USA 2009 winner will
receive a prize package worth over $50,000.
More than 40 contestants from all over the state will descend on the city
of Hollywood on October 4-6, 2008 to vie for the Miss Florida Teen USA 2009
crown. The Pageant Finals will be broadcast throughout Florida and overseas,
check local listings.
Miss Florida Teen USA is one of the first pageants to go "hi-tech". Fans
are kept up to date with pageant events via video blogs on "The Miss Florida
USA Channel" on www.youtube.com. Channel visitors can view daily activities as
well as pre-pageant interviews of the contestants. In addition to Youtube,
listings of upcoming events, photos, videos and other information can be found
at www.facebook.com/MissFloridaUSA . Complete pageant information is also
available at the official site: www.missfloridateenusa.com .
The pageant is open to the public and will take place at Bailey Hall,
located on the campus of Broward Community College, 3501 Southwest Davie Road
in Dania. Tickets to the pageant as well as Friday's Preliminary Competition
are available by contacting the Bailey Hall Box office at 954-201-6884. The
cost for tickets is $40.00 for the preliminaries, on Saturday, October 4th,
2008 at 7:30 p.m. and $50.00 for the finals, on Sunday, October 5th, 2008 at
2:00 p.m.
The 2009 Miss Florida USA Pageant is brought to you by The City of
Hollywood "The Diamond of The Gold Coast", The Hollywood Beach Community
Redevelopment Agency, Broward Community College and www.PageantDiva.com .
The Miss Florida Teen USA Pageant is produced by Tel-Air Interests, which
also produces the Miss Florida USA Pageant. Under the leadership of Pageant
Director Mary Lou Gravitt, Miss Florida USA and Miss Florida Teen USA are
regarded as the premier state pageants in the Miss USA System. For more
information about the Miss Florida Teen USA Pageant, click on to the site:
www.missfloridateenusa.com . Entry information about next year's Pageant may
be obtained by calling 1-800 USA-FLA1.
SOURCE Miss Florida Teen USA

Carmen Rossi-Merlino, Miss Florida Teen USA, +1-786-374-9417