Jessica Megliss

Dressed in a pink ribbed sweater and matching scarf, with her brunette hair in long, loose waves, Pitt junior Jessica Megliss looks as if she wouldn’t be out of place under a spotlight, accepting a beauty pageant title—as she did in October, when she won the Miss Pittsburgh competition.

Yet, Megliss estimates that “99 percent” of the people she knows aren’t aware that she competes in pageants. And Megliss has gotten to know a lot of people at Pitt and in the local community. When she’s not studying and taking classes in the University’s College of Business Administration, Megliss is a Pitt Golden Girl baton twirler, a member of accounting and finance clubs, a resident assistant in Pennsylvania Hall, and a volunteer with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Pittsburgh.

Taking on a lot of things at once has never been a problem for Megliss. “I always was in a million things at once,” she says.

Although Megliss has competed in baton-twirling competitions for years, she had never entered a beauty pageant until she was encouraged to do so by one of her high school swimming teachers.

“I had no idea what I was doing,” she says of her early efforts in pageants. “I was a baton twirler.” But Megliss caught on quickly enough to win the Miss Pittsburgh crown as well as the Miss Moraine State title last year.

To those who scoff at pageants, Megliss points out that they are among the world’s leading providers of academic scholarships to women. The Miss Pittsburgh title included a $500 scholarship, which Megliss has applied toward her Pitt tuition.

Competing in pageants also has honed her interviewing skills and helped her to feel more poised in social situations, Megliss says. After presenting herself on stage under a spotlight before an audience and judges, making a presentation in class no longer seems intimidating, she adds.

Megliss plans to compete for the Miss Pennsylvania title this summer. If she wins, Megliss will have to take a year off from her undergraduate studies to make personal appearances and prepare for the Miss America pageant.

“I would be thrilled [to win], but I would rather wait until my education was completed and be able to think about what I really want to do,” Megliss says.

“Even if you don’t take a state or national title,” she adds, competing n pageants “still opens so many doors, and the networking you can do is a great opportunity.”

As Miss Pittsburgh, Megliss has made personal appearances at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Christmas party and at Valentine’s Day parties in area VA hospitals. She also visits local high schools, urging students to do volunteer work in the community.

Don’t expect to see Megliss decked out in her Miss Pittsburgh crown and gown at a public event. “I just wear business casual,” she says.