From small beginnings on the Brown Auditorium stage, Miss Louisiana Hope Anderson managed to climb her way to the top. Our former Miss ULM finished in the top 10 at the Miss America pageant on Jan. 14 in Las Vegas.

“My motto was ‘hope for everything, expect nothing,’ and it was everything I hoped and wished for times 10,” Anderson said.

Anderson competed in her first pageant here at ULM when she was 19 years old. Four years later, Anderson also holds the titles of Miss Crescent City New Orleans 2008 and Miss Louisiana 2011. Not to mention that she recently received the Children’s Miracle Network Miracle Maker Award for raising over $40,000 as a Miss America contestant.

When the pageant aired live on ABC, the host began by announcing the top 15 contestants who had made it through preliminary competitions. Anderson, who was called 15th, said that moment was the longest of all 11 days she spent in Vegas.

“After they called contestants 13 and 14, everyone kind of looked around to take stock,” she said. “All the intensity made it that much more exciting when I heard my name.”

Anderson said she felt calm and confident for the majority of the competition, but that she did have a moment of doubt when rehearsing her talent. As a ballet dancer, she was worried about performing on the surface of the stage. “I knew the stage was going to be slippery, but when I got there, I saw that it was literally like glass. I slipped in rehearsals,” Anderson said. Despite her worries, Anderson managed to nail her performance in both the preliminary and live competition.

About 150 of Anderson’s friends and family, including SGA President Brooke Dugas, watched from the audience as she competed.

Although her journey ended after the top five were announced, Anderson said she was not disappointed in the least.

“I believed that I could handle the job and the demands of being Miss America. Just going there and conquering the unknown gave me confidence. But I knew above all that God had a plan, and if that meant not being Miss America, then that’s what I wanted,” she said.

Anderson still has five months remaining in her reign as Miss Louisiana. She plans to keep working with Pilots for Patients and to continue raising money for Children’s Miracle Network.

In August, Anderson plans to put her $50,000 in scholarship money to use at John Hopkins University where she will pursue her master’s degree in Health Communication and one day be an anchor on the “Today Show.”