Chattanooga Area Women Vying For Miss Tennessee

Seven women from or representing the Chattanooga area are in Jackson this week as they are among the 36 representatives competing to become Miss Tennessee 2009.

Three nights of preliminaries in talent, swimsuit and evening wear begin Wednesday continuing through Friday evening with the finals taking place on Saturday night at the Carl Perkins Civic Center. The four nights of the pageant will be telecast on the internet at www.eplustv6.com beginning at 9 pm ET. The contestants will also undergo an intense judges’ interview as they make their case for becoming the Governor’s spokesperson for A Safe and Drug-Free Tennessee, the opportunity of speaking to thousands of students statewide, representing the state at the 2010 Miss America Pageant along with presenting their community service accomplishments as local titleholders.

The winner will succeed Ellen Carrington, the former Miss Scenic City who a year ago became the fifth area representative in nine years to ascend to the state title.

Miss Carrington’s top seven finish at January’s Miss America Pageant was the highest placement for a Tennessee entrant since former Cleveland resident Stephanie Culberson was second runner-up in 2001.

The seven Chattanooga area candidates:

* Miss Capital City – Rebecca Lofty. Miss Lofty may be representing Nashville, but she is a native of Jasper who received numerous honors while attending Marion County High School from being Class President and Cheerleading Captain to receiving a Tennessee Titans scholarship for outstanding community service. The University of Tennessee-Knoxville senior majoring in Electronic Media will be making her first appearance at Miss Tennessee where she hopes to duplicate the success of another Jasper native Rachel Parsons Nall, who was a top 10 finalist in 2006 and 2007.

*Miss Chattanooga – Ivy DePew. An 18-year-old sophomore at the University of Memphis, Miss DePew is an AIDS activist currently interning at the Friends for Life in Memphis, an organization dedicated to assisting those afflicted by HIV/AIDS while raising awareness. She is also the founder of Stitches for Hope where she crocheted over 100 scarves while recuperating from a back injury and donated her works to among other places, Hope House, a facility that cares for children infected with HIV/AIDs. She recently made a donation to Chattanooga Cares with proceeds from a Memphis bowling tournament.


*Miss City Lights-Kayla Hockett. A recent Mass Communications graduate of Middle Tennessee State University, she is the founder of DREAM Tennessee which encourages the state’s youth to establish educational goals along with awarding scholarships.
*Miss Cleveland-Stacy Reigle. A certified personal trainer, the Austin Peay State University senior created the “Promise to be FIT (Fit in Tennessee)” program to encourage young people to exercise while also emphasizing proper nutrition after discovering through research that the Volunteer State has the sixth highest obesity rate in the nation. She has visited 40 states and 10 foreign countries including Tanzania and Israel. If chosen as Miss Tennessee, she wants to author a Promise to be Fit cookbook and produce a 20 minute workout DVD with the proceeds going to the Children’s Miracle Network, the official charity of the Miss America Organization. A resident of Ashland City, she also wants to meet the town’s most famous native, University of Tennessee Lady Vol basketball coach Pat Summitt.

*Miss Hamilton County-Stefanie Wittler. As Miss Hamilton County in 2006, Miss Wittler was third runner-up at Miss Tennessee and hopes for another top five finish as the 2009 representative. The UT-Chattanooga senior majoring in Communications raised over $10,000 for the Chattanooga Ronald McDonald House when the nine year volunteer organized a cheerleading competition. Miss Wittler could become the second Soddy-Daisy resident to become Miss Tennessee in six years following in the footsteps of the 2003 winner Jamie Watkins Davenport.

*Miss Metropolitan –Kaley Schwab. Miss Carrington was wearing the Tennessee sash at Miss America, but Miss Schwab’s vocals were also heard on the Planet Hollywood stage in Las Vegan. Top 10 finalist Miss Michigan Ashlee Baracy performed to Miss Schwab’s rendition of “Big Time”. Miss Schwab is a recent Public Relations graduate of Belmont University who created the program TEAM Character to promote character education in the schools.

*Miss Scenic City-Chandler Lawson. The 2008 Tennessee Junior Miss, who won interview and community service awards at the national competition, is making her first appearance at a Miss America state preliminary. The 19-year-old is among the youngest contestants, but she is the tallest measuring just over 6’. A junior at UT-Chattanooga majoring in international relations and political science, the Tullahoma native is the founder of 5 Loaves 4 Kids which provides weekend meals for elementary students from low income families.