Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
NORTH WEBSTER - Lindsay Schwartz will leave her summer job as a waitress at Neva's Place and head to Terre Haute to compete for the Miss Indiana title.
Schwartz, 19, won the Miss Kosciusko title last year, which is an official entry level pageant for the Miss America program.
Is she nervous? Not really.
"Every time you get on stage you'll be a stronger person," said the only child of Robert and Diana Schwartz of North Webster. "And every time you don't win makes you stronger."
She's been involved in the weeklong series of public events and activities in Terre Haute, where the pageant will be held for the first time this year.
The 17 contestants will be judged on talent, interview skills, on-stage personality in evening wear and physical fitness in a swimsuit.
For the talent competition Schwartz will perform a jazz dance to the song, "I'm a Woman" from "Smoky Joe's Cafe."
She's been kicking up her heels ever since she was 3 years old. When her family moved to North Webster she began studying at the Lee Ann Stewart Dance School, Dewart Lake, as a third- grader.
"She has studied all kinds of dance with me," Stewart said of her star pupil, "ballet, tap and jazz. She's one of my special dancers. I'm very proud of her."
Schwartz is a dance performance major at Oklahoma City University. Students must audition to attend the school.
"She is a very, very strong dancer," Stewart said. "She wants to become a performer. Not just anyone can attend the Oklahoma City University."
Schwartz wants to dance on Broadway following graduation or work with a Walt Disney traveling company and eventually settle down and open a dance school of her own and get other people interested in her art.
Her platform for the Miss Indiana contest is breast cancer awareness. She recently organized a dance seminar benefit for breast cancer awareness. The "Dance for a Chance" may become an annual event, she said.
"What a better way to promote breast cancer awareness than to be all dressed up with a crown on your head?" she said.
Preliminary contests for talent and fitness for the 1999 Miss Indiana Scholarship Pageant are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday.
Finals begin at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Tilson Auditorium, Indiana State University.
"When I"m on the stage is when I enjoy performing the most," Schwartz said. "Then it's lights, camera ... action."
She likes the competition.
"Competing makes you stronger. Every day when you wake up you're competing against someone or something," she said.
The 1998 Wawasee High School graduate also competed in the Miss Kosciusko pageant two years ago, and was named third runner-up, as well as the Mermaid Festival in 1998.
Her parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles plan to attend the state pageant, as do sponsors Pat Farm and Shelly Sanders-Bass.
Her plan for competition is to take one day at a time and "let people enjoy what I'm doing. I won't win every audition but the amount of confidence this puts into a person is unbelievable."
Schwartz said she has a pretty steady boyfriend in Oklahoma.
"I hope I can call him and have the operator say he has a collect call from Miss Indiana."
