Ms. Senior Pike County Sara Jo Burks will compete for the title of Ms. Senior Alabama at Wallace Community College in Hanceville on Saturday, Aug. 9.

Maxine Hollis, coordinator of the Pike County pageant, said Burks will compete in a field of 10 and will represent Pike County well.

“Sara Jo is an outstanding representative for Pike County,” Hollis said. “She has all of the qualities that will make her very competitive. Her application is very good and her talent is outstanding. We look forward to the Ms. Senior Alabama Pageant. We invite everyone to join us in supporting Sara Jo in this statewide competition.”

Burks left for Hanceville on Thursday in order to get ready for the competition Events. The competition will begin at 9 a.m. today.

“We have to have a chaperone so Brenda Campbell is going with me and we’ll have a good time,” Burks said, laughing. But, she turned serious when she talked about the Ms. Senior Alabama Pageant.

“The opportunity to represent Pike County is a great honor and I’m going up there to do my best,” Burks said.

Burks is no stranger to pageants. She is co-director of the Miss Troy University Pageant, director of the Miss Teen Trojan Pageant and the Miss Venus Pageant. Burks is also a former director of the Miss Troy Pageant.

“Competing in the Ms. Senior Alabama Pageant is an opportunity for me to have a better understanding of what it’s like to prepare for and compete in a pageant,” she said. “It gives me a new and different connection to the young women who compete in pageants. Now, I can honestly tell them that I know how it feels to compete.

“I have a new respect for the problems they face in competitions. They have classes and part-time jobs that have to be worked around. With my job at Troy University, it has been difficult to practice and prepare. I know much better what it’s like to compete.”

Burks will have an even greater understanding when the pageant ends on Saturday.

“We practice on Friday morning and then have lunch,” she said. “The interview portion of the pageant will be after lunch and then we’ll practice again before going to All Steak in Cullman for dinner.”

The Ms. Senior Alabama Pageant will be at 3 p.m. Saturday.

The stage portion of the pageant will include and opening number, eveningwear and talent. Each contestant will also recite her life’s philosophy on stage.

For her talent presentation, Burks will sing “Break It to Me Gently,” a pop song made popular by Brenda Lee and Juice Newton.

“I wanted to sing something with audience appeal and ‘Break It to Me Gently’ was first on my long list, so I’m going with it,” Burks said.

Burks said she is looking forward to continuing the friendships she has cultivated with the other contestants at workshop and to the competition phase of the pageant.

“It’s going to be a lot of fun and I’ll represent Pike County in the best way I can,” she said.

The Ms. Senior Pike County Pageant is a community effort. The event is spearheaded by a group of Pike County women who are dedicated to the idea that senior women should be afforded the opportunity to compete on a pageant platform, if they so desire.