Profile
Crowning Achievement
Stacey Heisler
becomes Miss
Michigan for her
combination of
beauty, brains
and musical
talent.
RUTH LITTMANN STAFF WRITER
S
tacey Heisler, the
recently crowned
Miss Michigan, spent
nearly half a decade
trying to calm her nerves
when pre-show anxiety
struck.
The 23-year-old Univer-
sity of Michigan graduate
plays the violin and sings.
When she made her
singing debut at age 6, she
wasn't self-conscious
enough to feel nervous.
But as she improved, she
came up against stiffer
competition. Stomach but-
terflies began to haunt her
before and during perfor-
mances.
"As you grow up, you
Stacey Heisler will compete in the Miss America Pageant this September.
At right, Miss Michigan as a Brownie.
become more aware of
your surroundings," she
says. "I had always been
one of the top players in
high school, but when I got
into college, it was like
someone knocked me over
and said, 'Now you're
going to have to work for
it.' That's when the nerves
came into play."
Not that Ms. Heisler
didn't have several rea-
sons to keep cool. As a stu-
dent at Stevenson High, in
her hometown of Livonia,
she played in the school
orchestra and took part in
the prestigious Metro-
politan Youth Symphony,
and the Detroit Civic
Symphony
sponsored
by the
Detroit
Symphony
Orchestra.
At U-M's
school of
music,
however,
pressure
to make
the grade
got the
better of
her con-
centration.
But to a
great ex-
tent, pa-
geants have helped her
overcome her jitters. Her
first big success came
when she won Livonia's
Snow Queen Pageant at
age 15. Then, in 1987, Ms.
Heisler became her home-
town's Junior Miss.
Of all the pageants, Ms.
Heisler credits the Miss
America Organization for
helping her rediscover the
pure joy of entertaining,
sans skittishness. Par-
ticipation in the Miss
Michigan • competition, as
well as preparing for the
Miss America Pageant,
has boosted her confidence
while fine-tuning her
poise.
"Now I think I've cap-
tured some of what I had
when I was young," she
says.
Ms. Heisler was crowned
Miss Michigan on June 19
_ an appropriate day for
celebration because it coin-
cides with the birthdays of
her mother and her best
friend, Melissa Stirn.
During the pageant, she
sang and performed a vio-
lin rendition of Duke
Ellington's "It Don't Mean
A Thing If It Ain't Got
That Swing."
On Sept. 18, Ms. Heisler
will join 49 other women
representing each state for
the annual Miss America
Pageant, to be
broadcast on NBC
from Atlantic City,
N.J. From now
until then, she will
prepare another
violin and vocal solo
and shop for pa-
geant apparel.
As a former Girl
Scout and two-year
Brownie leader, Ms.
Heisler draws paral-
lels between the ben-
efits of Girl Scouts
and pageantry. Both
institutions are often
misunderstood, she
says. For instance, as
a scout she has experi-
enced more than camp and
backpacking.
"People always joke
about Girl Scouts rubbing
sticks together to light a
fire and selling cookies.
But scouting teaches girls
at a young age that women
can be leaders," she says.
"It teaches them about
taking the initiative and
achieving independence."
"Poise helps in
every situation;
not beauty
poise."
Stacey Heisler
Likewise, participating
in pageants has taught her
much more than how to
shop for glittering evening
gowns. In the Miss
America Pageant system,
glamour is secondary to
demonstrating leadership,
talent and a healthy atti-
tude toward life, she says.
"It's a pageant that
focuses on women using
their potential with poise.
Poise helps in every situa-
tion; not beauty — poise ...
"The pageant and Girl
Scouts both strive to help
women be the best they
can be, and both uphold
very high moral and ethi-
cal standards," Ms. Heisler
says. "Also, they give girls
and women opportunities
they might not have other-
wise had."
Her parents, Steve and
Judy Heisler, are proud of
their daughter's accom-
plishments, as are her sib-
lings and 84-year-old
grandmother Eva Shpar-
gel.
In the future, Ms.
Heisler hopes to continue
performing. She also plans
to some day teach elemen-
tary school music. But for
now, Ms. Heisler is looking
forward to September's
gala event, and she says
she's really not nervous.
"This is what I've
worked for. I'm enjoying
myself." ❑
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