Miss South Carolina with Local Roots Has Ambitious Plans

Brooke Mosteller, a Mount Pleasant woman crowned Miss South Carolina last weekend, says the coming weeks will be a mix of outreach and preparation for the Miss America pageant.

In addition to touring the state as Miss South Carolina, the 24-year-old University of South Carolina law student is working with voice coach and two personal trainers to prepare for September's Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City, N.J.

Patch sat down with Mostellar on Sunday at her family's Needlebrush Parkway home to find out about the adjustment and what she hopes to accomplish.

About Mosteller
Age: 24
Hometown: Mount Pleasant
Parents: Rick and Cyndi Mostellar
Education: Wando High School salutatorian, Furman undgrad, Unviersity of South Carolina Law School.

Patch: Describe what it's been like since winning the title.
Mosteller: It's been a balance of preparing for Miss America, which is in almost a month and half, and then just making appearances. I've had some interviews... I attended a carnival in Myrtle Beach and on Monday I travel to Columbia. On Saturday I went out to eat for my birthday at Vickery's and two little girls recognized me and asked for an autograph, so that was my first "sighting."

P: Is being Miss South Carolina a lifelong dream?
M: No, it really hasn't been a dream, but my whole life I've been very purpose oriented. I like to find something that I care about, or something that's a challenge that will make me better, and the pageant really became that.

Miss South Carolina and Miss America is a whole-person kind of challenge. There's a civic aspect, a fitness component and a talent portion. It's all about people, serving them, interacting with them. I love being around people, and I think the girls in the pageant saw that and that's why they named me Miss Congeniality. 

P: When you won Miss South Carolina, it was your second trip to the pageant. It usually takes contestants several tries to win on the state level, but Miss America is a one-shot deal. How do you prepare for that?
M: You have just one chance, so I want to do the very best that I can. I'm focusing on singing, my talent, which is why I got into pageants in the first place. I'm working with a voice coach to help me, and I'm still trying to pick a song. I love Barbra Streisand and musical theater, so I may go that route.

I'm also focusing on swimsuit. I was a student athlete (lettering in tennis and track and field at Furman University), so I know that I have put my body through incredible things that most non-athletes can't understand. So now I want my body to show that. I'm working with two trainers, one in Charleston and one in Greenville. 

P: Tell us a little about your platform.
M: It's called Go Higher College Application Day and it targets first-generation high school students whose parents did not go to college. The program sets up an infrastructure in the high schools to help seniors apply to college with the help of guidance counselors and teachers. College admissions staff come and bring application fee waivers to the kids. 

It changes peoples' lives. A mother has come up to me with tears in her eyes telling me that she didn't think it would be possible for her son to go to college, and he left that day as a college applicant. ... It's a concrete platform; 32,000 seniors last year applied to college through College Application Day.

P: How did you select the name for your program.
M: The 'Go Higher' part comes from Habakkuk 3:19, which says 'The Lord God is my strength, he gives me hinds feet and sets me upon my high places.' I just firmly believe that He has a high place for each of us. ... And education is really the place to hone and discover those gifts.