John,

Yes, it was over with last Saturday. She did not win, but she had the best time in her life and she is still Miss Teen Kansas 2005. I liken it to summer camp for performers.

All 52 girls were extremely bright, poised and talented. Any of them would have made a wonderful Miss America's Outstanding Teen. It is kind of like poker, you have to have everything fall together at the same time to win the tournament.

She was very happy with everything she did. She said she had never performed her talent piece better than she did there. That is important. Had she messed something up or made a silly mistake she would have been disappointed in herself.

If anything went wrong it would have been in the interview portion of the competition. It is the most important part counting for 30% of the final score. Interview has always been one of Lauren's strong points, but during this interview, one of the judges said, "Your essay says that you like to bargain shop in New York. Where do you shop while in New York?" The question threw Lauren because she didn't remember writing that in her essay, but she did and does enjoy shopping in NYC. She replied that although she did enjoy shopping in NYC, she didn't remember writing that in her essay and that she didn't remember bargain shopping there. The judge looked at her and accused her of not writing her own essay! My guess is that really threw Lauren off and may have cost her some scoring. Before the interview was over, the judge apologized and said she was reading the wrong girls essay, but by then the damage was already done.

That aside though, it was a great experience for her. The girls worked harder than you can imagine. They were outside their doors every morning at 6:30 am, worked all day in rehearsals, putting on 4 full productions during the week. They would get back to their rooms after 11pm each night. Lauren said she averaged 3 hours sleep a day for the whole week!!!

The Miss America Organization is really a top notch outfit and I am glad that Lauren is associated with it.

Greg