By BY LYDIA GRIMES Feature Writer
It's not often that a profile is done of the same person more than once. But this week has to be an exception.
In May of 2001, when the first profile was written, Catherine Crosby was on her way to the competition in Birmingham hoping to become the next Miss Alabama. It took a couple of years, but that dream finally came true for her this past June. She now reigns as Miss Alabama and will be going to the Miss America competition in Atlantic City. You can bet that all Brewton eyes will be turned on that New Jersey city on September 20, 2003.
Catherine went to the Miss Alabama competition in 2001 as Miss Auburn University and again in 2002 as Miss Painted Rock (Valley, Ala.) where she placed in the Top Ten.
But that was not to be the case in 2003. She entered the state competition as Miss Homewood Area and this time she was on her way to the top.
She says that it is still a blur to her as to the way things happened on that Saturday night. The contestants had interviewed, paraded, smiled and performed their talent. She didn't win any of those categories but she placed in the Top Ten finalists. The group number soon became five and eliminations soon brought them down to only two people.
Her mother, Ann Crosby, told what it was like to sit in the audience and see it all unfold.
Catherine Crosby's life may have changed but she doesn't seem to have let it go to her head. She is very proud of being a small-town girl and she doesn't mind it that she is in the spotlight. She says that living in a small town is like always being in the limelight.
Catherine is also quick to point out her platform that she will concentrate on during her reign. She is very involved with the Close Up Foundation: First Vote, America's Freedom to Choose project.
First Vote is a classroom based program to educate young people about their responsibilities of being good citizens and using their right to vote. The Close Up Foundation, in cooperation with the American Express Foundation, provides teachers with guides, videos and other resource material to be used as a part of the social studies curriculum.
Catherine is very concerned about the apparent disinterest in the younger generation to exercise their rights and she has selected this as her platform to bring it to the attention of the public.
To those who know Catherine, it comes as no big shock that she could go so far. A visit with her and one knows that this is one smart young woman who knows what she is all about and where she is going.
She wants to be a federal judge someday and the scholarship money that she has won has helped her with the education that she needs to reach that goal. After her year of being Miss Alabama (if she doesn't become Miss America), she plans to use the scholarship money to attend law school. To her it is all about scholarships.
She is a 1998 graduate of T.R. Miller High School and while in school she was a member of Scholars Bowl Team, president of her senior class, drum major for the T.R. Miller Band and was an All-State band member in her last three years of high school. She learned to play the flute in Brewton Middle School and that is what she used as her talent in the Miss Alabama pageant, although that is not her only instrument. She also plays the piano, guitar, bass guitar and the piccolo.
After winning the title of Escambia County's Junior Miss, Catherine used the scholarship money to attend Auburn University.
She graduated from Auburn University with a major in history and a minor in political science. She got a job in Birmingham and says 'she pounded the streets knocking on doors' but that dream of becoming a judge still beckons her to continue her schooling. For that she needs more scholarship money and now that she has attained the title of Miss Alabama, her goal seems even closer. She not only receives scholarship money, but she has an apartment, a new car every 3,000 miles and many other perks. She takes the title very seriously and wants to represent her state and her home town to the very best of her ability. She is already working on training and getting ready for Atlantic City and who knows, she just might pull it off. She's not just a pretty face; she's smart as well. Brewton could become the home of the future Miss America. Wouldn't that be something?