Published: Thursday, November 15, 2012 1:02 AM CST

For Jessica Albers, the opportunity to represent Yankton in the Miss South Dakota USA pageant meant everything.

“My hometown is here in Yankton, and I’m the first Miss Yankton to be named Miss South Dakota USA,” she said.

She won the title at the state pageant held Sunday, Nov. 4 at the Brandon Valley Performing Arts Center in Brandon.

The annual competition consists of three segments, all of which are judged equally; swimsuit, evening gown and interview. Women must be between the ages of 14-26 to compete in either the Miss S.D. USA or Miss S.D. Teen USA pageant and also must be unmarried residents of South Dakota.

Alexis Rupp of Sioux Falls took home the honor of being Miss South Dakota Teen USA.

Albers currently works for Countryside Stores in northeast Nebraska as the executive of operations. She graduated from Mount Marty College with a business administration degree in 2009.

She has been in the Miss USA system for nine years, including one year as a teenager. She has been the first runner-up as Miss South Dakota twice, second runner-up once and the third runner-up three times.

“This year has been like so many other years. You’re standing up there in the top two holding the other persons hand and just hoping they pick you,” Albers said. “Not only is it an honor to win, it’s an unbelievable experience that I’ll be able to represent South Dakota in the Miss USA pageant.”

In order to qualify to compete in the Miss South Dakota pageant, contestants must submit a photo and resume, and directors select contestants from throughout the state for the preliminary round. Once contestants get picked at that level, they represent their hometown in the pageant.

This year, there were 16 women in the competition. Winners are announced in descending order, and whoever’s name is not called is crowned as Miss South Dakota.

“I’ve been in the top five quite a few times and you never want to hear your name called,” Albers said. “I was ready to age out of the system, so this was the last year I could ever compete in Miss South Dakota or Miss USA. I was more excited about just being on stage and having the support I’ve had throughout the years. I didn’t think I would win — my competition was the best I’ve ever seen it at the state level.”

She added that South Dakota hasn’t fared well in the national contest — the last time someone placed in the top 15 at Miss USA from South Dakota was in 1974.

After she was announced as the winner, she said she had hundreds of girls behind her, proud of her and wanting hugs.

“I represent every single girl that was on stage fighting for the title that I won,” Albers said. “When I go out in public, I think of the people I represent in South Dakota that were on that stage, too. The girls there were all so happy for me, and I felt as if I had met so many friends.”

Albers has high aspirations for Miss USA. The date and location of the 2013 pageant is to be announced.

“I really hope I can place in the top 15 at Miss USA, though I would really like to win it,” Albers said. “People in the state might not know the importance of this, but it’s a huge deal and people all over the world watch it.”

Miss USA is the second most watched program in the world, next to the Olympics.

Albers said she has always been a role model and someone girls have to look up to.

“I really feel as if I’ve always been a role model, and I think that’s one of the reasons the judges may have picked me to be Miss South Dakota,” Albers said.

She hopes she can exemplify what and who Miss South Dakota should be and how she should act.

“People underestimate the power of themselves all the time,” Albers added. “All these years I’ve been in the system and the top five, but I don’t need the title to be able to change people’s lives. It’s just an honor to get that title, if you’re able to. However, now that I have the title of Miss South Dakota, I have more people looking up to me, so I need to watch what I do and understand I have more people looking up to me, watching me and wanting to be like me.”

She said if she won the Miss USA Crown, it would bring attention to South Dakota and to Yankton.

“If I win I really hope Yankton County throws a huge party and thinks this is the next biggest thing since Tom Brokaw,” she said.

Albers has faced adversity while fighting for her goals.

“I grew up in Walnut Creek, Calif. My parents divorced when I was 12, and my mom chose not to be a part of the family anymore, so my dad moved us to Yankton because he grew up in Fordyce,” she said. “My dad just thought Yankton was the perfect town to raise two young girls.”

She has a sister, Nicole, who is 24 and works for BNSF.

“My dad brought us back here and raised us on his own,” Albers said. “I didn’t have a mom to teach me how to do makeup. My dad, God bless his heart, really tried hard to have his girls be important to him and said, ‘If you want to do pageants, then we’ll learn how to do makeup.’ So we were on the Internet learning how to put on makeup and how to walk, talk and dress in order to be in pageants.”

She said it’s hard for a girl to grow up without a mother to look up to, rely on and tell all her secrets to.

“My dad had to be a stern father who didn’t allow boyfriends, but also the kind and compassionate mother who showed you how to put makeup on and deal with feminine issues,” Albers said. “He became the most important person in my life.”

She added that she had to look to friends’ mothers for advice, but had amazing friends in high school to help her through everything she was going through.

After graduating from Yankton High School in 2004, Albers said she felt as if her closest friends and role models in high school were all moving away.

“I had finally felt like I made a home, even though it took me a few years to feel like this was home and a place I could come back to and rely on people here,” Albers said. “I wanted to stay here for college, so I went to Mount Marty.”

Albers started out as pre-med at MMC, but eventually switched to business administration.

She said being involved in pageants has “changed my life. They have made me more open, a better communicator and a much more confident person in who I am. It takes a lot of confidence to get on stage in front of thousands of people, wearing a bathing suit and make-up and acting like you’re just at the beach.”

She added that every woman that competes in pageants becomes more confident and calmer knowing that if they have the guts to enter a pageant, they can do anything they want.

“When I won Miss South Dakota, I was so happy my dreams finally came true,” Albers said. “When they announced who the winner was, I didn’t see my family, but I would have liked to have seen a photo of them — it probably would have been the best photo I’ve ever had.”

She said she is looking forward to representing Yankton and the entire state in Miss USA.

“It really means everything to me to be able to represent Yankton in Miss USA,” Albers said. “I wouldn’t have worked for 10 years to be where I’m at if I didn’t love my county and stayed here to represent it. I could have moved to a bigger state or lived in Nebraska, but I chose to stay here to represent Yankton.”

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