New Miss Wisconsin 2008 has best shock of her life

By Aldrich M. Tan • of The Northwestern

June 23, 2008

Briana Lipor was three years old when she first met Miss Wisconsin 1988 Jeanie Hatfield at a McDonalds in Racine.

Lipor saw Hatfield again this year at the Miss Wisconsin 2008 Pageant and Scholarship Competition when Lipor competed in her third pageant as Miss South Central.

"I am in the best shock of my life right now," she said. "This means a whole year of being able to do something that I love."

Lipor said she especially looks forward to promoting her platform "Save the Arts: Stressing the Importance of an Arts Education."

Her platform comes from her many years as part of the youth-run Racine Youth Players where she also served a president and helped with fundraising.

Lipor said she hopes to expand on a fundraising program that she started in Racine called "Help a School Art Smarts" where children decorate cans and ask for donations.

The fundraiser raised an average of $200-300 per classroom at 40 schools in Racine, Lipor said.

Out of 26 contestants, Lipor will also advance to the Miss America 2009 pageant on Jan. 24, 2009. She also receives a $10,000 scholarship.

Lipor said she almost didn't make it this year for Miss Wisconsin. She first ran for Miss Wisconsin in 2006 as Miss Racine. Then, she returned last year as Miss Festival of Trees.

Lipor said she planned to take a year off and then at the last-minute ran and lost the Miss Kenosha pageant. That was her wake-up call.

"I thought that if this was the last pageant of the season, I would have lost my chance to be in Miss Wisconsin, period," she said.

Fortunately for Lipor, there were two more pageants left. She met the deadline for the Miss South Central scholarship program within an hour and won the competition in April.

Lipor then went on to win the Miss Wisconsin 2008 preliminary talent category with the song "Chi il bel sogono di Doretta," an opera song about an older woman telling her younger friend about an imagined love.

She also won the preliminary lifestyle and fitness category on June 20.

"I think it's really knowing that if you want something bad enough, you need to fall into the moment and do what you are supposed to do and know who you are," she said.

Lipor said she also looks forward to moving to Milwaukee, where she will finish her double major in vocal performance and communication at the UW-Milwaukee.

Her long-term goal is to move to New York and pursue a career on Broadway.