Ouachita Stories

Alyse Eady, a 2010 graduate of Ouachita Baptist University, was crowned Miss Arkansas 2010 on Saturday, July 17, at Summit Arena in Hot Springs.

“It was such a surreal moment. I've seen the crowning video, and it doesn't feel like it's me," Eady said in an interview with KTHV-11. "I'm still so excited about it, and I'm honored to be Miss Arkansas 2010."

Eady, who majored in mass communications and speech communication at Ouachita, works as the fundraising and event coordinator for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. She is the daughter of Lewis and Lady Eady of Fort Smith; her father is a member of the Ouachita Board of Trustees.

“We join so many others in congratulating Alyse for being named Miss Arkansas 2010,” said Ouachita President Rex Horne. “I have observed Alyse during her years here and have deep appreciation for Alyse and her fine family.”

Eady, 22, competed as Miss South Central Arkansas with the platform issue of “Developing Leaders: Boys and Girls Club of America.” She was awarded a $20,000 Miss Arkansas scholarship as well as $50,000 in additional awards, wardrobe, transportation and gifts. She also was the Coleman Dairy Overall Talent Award winner with her musical ventriloquist act, “I Want to Be a Cowboy’s Sweetheart.” Eady, who also reigned as the 2004 Miss Teen Arkansas, will compete in the 2011 Miss America pageant in January.

Eady was one of six contestants with Ouachita ties who competed in this year’s Miss Arkansas pageant. Other contestants included Bethany Briscoe, a 2010 Ouachita graduate with a double major in graphic design and mass communications from Plano, Texas; Kristen Glover a senior chemistry major from Stuttgart; Molly Johnson, a senior biology major from Gillett; Abby Turner, a senior business administration major from Sherwood; and Bethany Whitfield, a senior history major from Bryant.

Glover, who was named 3^rd runner-up, also was named the Miss Arkansas Pageant Executive Directors Crowd Favorite. She also won a Preliminary Artistic Expression in Talent Award and the Eco-Tool Green and Gorgeous Award.

Briscoe, who competed as Miss Ouachita Baptist University, was a Top 10 finalist, and Johnson won the Shannon Albright Miss Congeniality Award.

Whitfield, a former Miss OBU, was awarded the Miss America Community Service Award and the Brad Hudgens/Morgan Stanley Finance and Investment in Leadership Award. She also won a Lifestyle and Fitness in Swimsuit Preliminary Award.

“We are proud of our six young ladies from Ouachita who represented us so well in the Miss Arkansas pageant,” President Horne noted. “They all did extremely well.”

Other Ouachita connections at this year’s Miss Arkansas pageant included:

•  Cortnie DeVore, a senior musical theatre major from Beebe, who served on the Miss Arkansas Court of Honor.
•  Lacy Fleming Glover, a 2004 Ouachita graduate, who was Miss OBU 2004, Miss Arkansas 2004 and 3^rd runner-up to Miss America. She served this year as a pageant co-emcee.
•  Lauren Davidson Greenhaw, a 2004 Ouachita graduate, who was Miss Arkansas 2002. She also served as a pageant co-emcee.
•  Jane Chu, a 1979 Ouachita graduate, served this year as a Miss Arkansas judge. Chu, who is the president and CEO for the Kauffman Center of the Performing Arts in Kansas City, was Miss OBU 1979, finished in the Top 10 in the 1979 Miss Arkansas pageant and won the Coleman Dairy Overall Talent Award.

By Trennis Henderson, OBU Vice President for Communications