The Miss Tennessee Volunteer preliminary competition took place Sunday evening with seven young women competing for the exciting chance to become Miss Tennessee Volunteer, an honor that comes with a scholarship opportunity!
Former Miss UT Martin 2023 Cayleigh Jo Irwin (left), hugging 2024 winner, Maleia Bigham (right). | Photo Credit / Erika O’Brien
The Miss University of Tennessee at Martin Scholarship pageant is an ongoing scholarship competition since 1958 and has been an annual event for young women to compete in for 65 years. This competitive scepter is a preliminary event to travel to Jackson, Tennessee, to compete in Miss Tennessee Volunteer with a chance to win up to $3,000 in scholarships. Miss Tennessee Volunteer awards almost $100,000 dollars in scholarships and is considered one of the top providers of scholarships for young women in Tennessee. Their mission statement is as follows, “We are a service-oriented scholarship program seeking to empower young women through education and opportunity.” This year, the scholarship pageant was hosted by Martin mayor Jake Bynum. He proceeded to introduce the judges of the competition, each having a connection to UT Martin or pageantry.
Representing Miss UT Martin Sunday evening was Cayleigh Jo Irwin, who won Miss UT Martin in November of 2023 during her senior year at the university. After graduating from UT Martin with a bachelor’s degree in family and consumer science, she now teaches family and consumer sciences at Obion County Central High School. She is a graduate student working towards her master’s degree at Tennessee Technological University for strategic leadership.
Following Cayleigh Jo was her closest friend, Kierra Ramey. Winner of Miss Tennessee Soybean Festival two years in a row (2022/2023), Ramey is now a senior at UT Martin studying health and human performance. The two are a part of Chi Omega Sorority and have been close friends since their first year at UT Martin. As the two were introduced, additional winners such as Miss Teen Tennessee Volunteer and Miss Tennessee Volunteer, along with other preliminary winners lined the stage with Miss Tennessee Soybean and Miss UT Martin to showcase the sisterhood of pageantry and networking.
(right to left) pictured: Jaida Fann, Sierra Smith, Elyna Sides, Sloan Wiggs, Kira Simmons Faith Godoyo, and Maleia Bigham.
Contestants
After the introduction of the pageant, Bynum welcomed the competitors. All seven contestants walked on stage in a black sleeveless dress, addressing their name, grade and major in order of appearance. The first contestant, Jaida Fann, is a freshman this year at UT Martin studying chemistry and health science. The next contestant was junior Sierra Smith, a double major studying farm and ranch management and animal science with a minor in pre-law. Following Smith was Elayna Sides, a freshman vet science and technology major, followed by Sloan Wiggs, a Junior studying social work. Faith Godoyo introduced herself as a freshman studying psychology, and finally Maleia Bigham, a sophomore obtaining her BFA in dance education. With the contestants formally introduced, the pageant was ready to commence.
Fitness and Wellness
The Miss Tennessee Volunteer Scholarship Pageant promotes the five points of the crown: Scholarship, Education, Responsibility, Volunteerism and Empowerment. Each contestant must demonstrate a thorough understanding of these ideas and respect what it means to hold the title of Miss Tennessee Volunteer. To help demonstrate this, the judges of the competition base categories the contestants competed in on a 10 point scale, one being the lowest and 10 the highest. The first category was Fitness and Wellness, in which the judges take into consideration each contestant’s display of charisma and dedication of mind and body balance, drive and energy.
First to go on was Miss Jaida Fann, who appeared on stage in a cheetah print two-piece bikini, her hips covered by a modern sheer white bathing suit cover. Next, Sierra Smith followed in a classic one-piece with an open back, which drew excitement from the crowd, similar to contestant Kiya Simmons who also wore a daring one-piece with a gold hoop connecting the top and bottom of the set on her right side. Elayna Sides then walked the stage in a periwinkle two-piece. Finishing this portion of the competition was Faith Godoyo in an extravagant red one-piece bodysuit and Miss Maleia Bigham in a teal two-piece.
Talent
Sierra Smith performing “A Little Bit Stronger” | Photo Credit / Erika O’Brien
Miss Cayleigh Jo reappeared on stage as she introduced the talent portion of the pageant. During this portion of the competition, contestants would be judged upon their preparedness and ability to showcase their talent, their technical skill and stage presence. The contestants had the chance to win over the judges by demonstrating their skills and talents.
Beginning this series of events, Fann appeared on stage and danced a self-choreographed hip hop routine, embracing the Y2K style. Next, Smith sang, “A Little Bit Stronger” by Sara Evans, wooing the audience with her adaptation of the country star’s hit song. Elayna Sides utilized the choreography stand point of scoring by somersaulting into a cheerleading routine, at one point flipping so far backward she accidentally bumped into the wall behind her. Uninjured, she continued her routine.
Wiggs had an interesting approach to the talent portion of the contest, displaying her knowledge of American Sign Language by signing the song “The First Noel” by Pentatonix. This demonstrated her faith and understanding of others, with an impressive display of sympathy and compassion. Another sign-language interpretation of a song was, “You Say” by Lauren Daigle performed by Faith Godoyo. In comparison to Sloan, Faith also wore solid white gloves for people to follow her hand movements, however added a twist to her performance by having a black light shine on her, making only her hands visible in Watkins Auditorium. Bigham finished the talent portion with a self-choreographed dance that embraced her passion, which she later stated the routine has “…meant a lot to her to perform.”
Evening Wear
After a brief intermission, the event resumed. The final scoring portion of the pageant was evening wear, in which the young women showcased their natural look in evening ball gowns. Fann walked the stage first in an auburn sequined backless dress. Sierra chose a traditional twist with a baby blue sequence dress. Elayna Sides chose periwinkle again to represent her evening wear with a spaghetti-strapped backless dress with a slight ruffle.
Sloan Wiggs then followed wearing a backless florally designed dress. After Wiggs, contestant Simmons dazzled the judges and audience in a silver studded rhinestone dress that cut off at the waist into a matte navy gown. Godoyo appeared wearing a lavender, strapless gown with light floral touches showing through a seam in the back, and Bigham then concluded the evening wear portion in a backless, deep blue sequin dress that rested on spaghetti straps on her shoulders.
Winners
As Cayleigh Jo gave her title away, she closed the show with a bittersweet speech describing her accomplishments as Miss UT Martin and beyond. Diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder at 19, just months before she began the next chapter of her young adult life entering college, becoming ill hindered her college decisions. However, this shocking news suddenly became a blessing as Miss Irwin found herself at The University of Tennessee at Martin which she describes, “…easily became my second home.” She felt welcomed with academic rigor and expressed how her time at UT Martin has been an experience that shaped her into who she is today. Through a tearful goodbye, she thanked her mom, best friend Kierra, and her extended family for their support through pageantry and college. She followed her thankfulness by expressing words of encouragement for the winner of the pageant, stating, “To the next Miss UT Martin, represent our university with pride, grace and poise. You have everything you need right inside of you, don’t blink cause it goes by way too fast and so does college. Make every appearance you can on campus, you’ll not regret it and college is the best time of your life and I cannot imagine a better experience than getting to represent your university.”
(right to left) pictured : Maleia Bigham winning 1st runner up in 2023 with then winner Cayliegh Jo Irwin. | Photo Credit / University Relations
As the speech concluded, five different winners were announced. The first winner for People’s Choice was awarded to Faith Godoyo. Sierra Smith won Miss Congeniality and Miss UT Martin 2nd Runner Up, being given a glass plaque and bouquet of roses. Miss UT Martin 1st runner up was awarded to Sloan Wiggs, who was also awarded a plaque and roses. The winner of the 65th Miss University of Tennessee at Martin Scholarship Pageant and who will represent Miss UT Martin 2024 in Jackson for Miss Tennessee Volunteer is Maliea Bigham. She was awarded her crown, a sash that dubbed her ‘Miss UT Martin’ and a bouquet of orange roses. Through tears, she expressed her thanks and gratitude to the judges as she knelt to get her crown fastened to her hair.
Miss Maliea Bigham (left) having her crown adjusted by Miss Juneteenth Jackson (right) | Photo Credit / Erika O’Brien
After photographing her excitement and joy with other winners, runner-ups and family, Bigham and I sat down for a brief interview along with Bud Grimes of University Affairs.
When asked by Mr. Grimes what her reaction was to winning the pageant, she stated, “Genuinely over the moon. It’s an honor to represent my school and winning Miss UT Martin was on my bucket list, not just to be able to compete in Miss Tennessee Volunteer but because I genuinely love my school so much. I don’t drive 6 and a half hours because I don’t love it here, I love being here!…it’s because I love representing my school and I get to represent it in a new way.” She followed her statement by explaining she is from Turtletown, Tennessee in Polk County, which is in southeast Tennessee.
Mr. Grimes then asked if Miss Bigham had any pageantry experience or if this was her first competition. “Yes I do, just a year of experience though. My first ‘Miss’ pageant was actually Miss UT Martin last year.” She received 1st runner-up last year, which ignited a determination to try the pageant again.
Maliea Bigham’s platform is to uplift the underprivileged, specifically in rural communities. “It focuses on giving students in rural communities opportunities that they might not normally have, like in technology and in performing arts, as well as giving families more time together at home.”
When asked why she chose this platform, Bigham stated, “I feel like a lot of love and encouragement comes from families being able to be together, and if parents have to work a lot to just make ends meet, they don’t get to spend the time with their children… So, uplifting the underprivileged is about giving not just students but underprivileged families in rural communities the opportunities they might not normally have.”
Answering the question, “What inspired you to compete?” Miss Bigham replied, “My biggest inspiration to compete… was to come back and I really wanted to be Miss UTM. I wanted to represent my school in the state… I wanted to be the one that was the face of UTM as well as just being able to get involved in campus events!”
When asked about her passion in dance education. Maliea discussed why she chose her major, Bigham explained, “So, I come from a family of educators, and I always swore I would not go into education, Because I got to see the other side of that. However, I had such a strong passion for dance but didn’t know if I wanted to go into professional dance, so when I found the opportunity to obtain a BFA I thought it would be perfect for me… I have a passion for working with small children, young children, so I get to (share) what I love with others.”
Maleia Bigham will be representing Miss UT Martin at Miss Tennessee Volunteer in July of 2024 in Jackson, Tennessee. If she succeeds, she will then compete in Miss America Volunteer in June of 2025.
