2008 Woodie Awards
It's Miss America for this MSU grad
by Derek Wehrwein
Issue date: 1/17/08
Section: Student Life
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"It's been hard growing up and seeing them not being accepted by peers, seeing people making fun of them and not understanding them," said the 23-year-old Hudspeth.
Lately, however, the 2006 Minnesota State graduate has had a chance to combat the ignorance and attitudes her brothers have faced their whole lives. As Miss Minnesota 2007, Hudspeth has made autism awareness her platform.
Hudspeth has enjoyed other opportunities resulting from being named Miss Minnesota, and she's been involved in the "Miss America: Reality Check" reality television series and will compete in the Miss America pageant in Las Vegas next week. For her, though, the most important opportunity has been her ability to help educate others about autism and deliver encouragement to those families affected by it.
"I'm very passionate about the issue," said Hudspeth, whose platform states her desire to "be the voice of those who live with autism every day."
"My main focus is educating people about it," she said. "When you don't know a lot about it you're often scared of it."
Hudspeth, who was a theater major at MSU, will have an opportunity to promote her message to an even bigger audience next week. She leaves for Las Vegas today and will be there for 10 days, including Saturday, Jan. 26, when the Miss America pageant will air at 7 p.m. on TLC.
In the preceding days Hudspeth will be busy with preliminaries, including her interview, her talent (she will sing "Life of the Party" from the play "The Wild Party") and the evening gown competition. She and the other Miss America contestants will also make various promotional appearances and get a chance to attend the red carpet event for Silvester Stallone's film "Rambo." (They won't be able to see the movie itself due to preliminaries, something Hudspeth admits she is "disappointed about.")
Hudspeth, who currently lives in Apple Valley, has managed to keep busy the past few months as well. In November she filmed the "Miss America: Reality Check" show along with the other 51 Miss America contestants. She shared living quarters with 11 other women during taping of the show, which was done in an attempt to help update the pageant's image. Viewers can vote for their favorite contestant on the TLC website.
Two episodes of the four-part reality series remain, and Hudspeth hinted she would receive some significant face time on the final episode, which airs at 9 p.m. Friday, Jan. 25.
"You don't want to miss the final episode - I wish I could tell why. It's for something good, nothing controversial," she said with a laugh.
Hudspeth admitted it was hard to get used to being filmed constantly, however.
"It's really hard to get used to cameras all around and you have be really careful about what you say at all times," she said. "I was really conscious about that because I didn't want to say anything that would embarrass myself or my family - so I was more of the strong, silent type."
While Hudspeth enjoyed her time filming, she decided not to stick with the makeover she received while on the show. When she came back to Minnesota, she said, she had her stylist recut her hair.
"I liked [the makeover]," Hudspeth said, "but it really wasn't me."
Derek Wehrwein is the Reporter variety editor
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