A Great Night for Miss Day

By Shawn Tyree
PDT Feature Writer

On Saturday evening, the 2008 Miss Ohio USA crown went to Miss Greater Columbus USA, Monica Day. The decision was the end result of a weekend full of interviews, swimsuit and evening gown presentations.

Day expressed a sense of premonition about her emotional experience throughout the pageant.

“It's been amazing. I got here and they talk about feeling like you're going to win, or feeling the crown on your head, and that is so true,” she said. “Every minute this weekend I tried to present and show people that I already felt it, in hope that they would catch on. It worked, luckily.”

Day said she benefited from her experience in previous Miss Ohio USA pageants.

“I've been in the top 15 before and I've never gotten any further,” she said. “So when I got in the top 15, I said (to myself), ‘OK, I've made it this far, they like me. Let's keep doing what we're doing, and push a little bit further and make it to the top five.'”

Her strategy paid off. When Day continued to progress, she was able to retain a winning attitude through the elimination stages.

“Standing there in the top five it was like, they're going to ask you a question and all they want to know is who you are and what you think,” Day said. “With that, I was not nervous at all.”

Day approached the judges with straightforward answers.

“I expected to be myself and hope that the judges liked that,” she said. “I'm a reporter in Columbus, I'm on television, where I cover traffic and entertainment.”

The newly-crowned 2008 Miss Ohio USA expressed positive personal and pageants representative goals.

“Obviously, I've competed in the pageant a few times. I really want to use this pageant to promote myself and take my career to the next level, and also promote this system. It is a great system, there are a lot of wonderful things for people,” Day said. “Through this, I can really inspire and feel like I'm making a difference. We all want to make a difference, and this is a great way to do it.”

If the published schedule for last year's winner, Anna Melomud, is an indicator of the road ahead, then Day will receive many opportunities to make a difference in 2008.