By Paris Goodnight
Salisbury Post
Miss North Carolina brought her traveling “Read to Me” literacy program to Salisbury Academy and the Civitan Club on Thursday.Jessica Jacobs, who just finished as fourth runner-up at the Miss America pageant in January, is taking a year off from graduate school at North Carolina State University to travel the state speaking on the importance of literacy. She’s giving out free books through www.First Book.org, a nonprofit organization.
She visited Rutherford County Wednesday and was heading to Hendersonville after leaving Salisbury.
The High Point native and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill graduate founded the “Read to Me” program in Davidson and Randolph counties and is working to spread it throughout North Carolina. She works closely with Communities in Schools, delivering books to 40 chapters across the state.
“The community service part of being Miss North Carolina is near and dear to my heart,” she told the Civitans at the Country Club of Salisbury.
She also understands the value of items such as free books for needy children and scholarships, since she is continuing her own studies. She said she has earned $25,000 in her pageant career.
“If you’ve never owned a book, it’s very special,” she said. “Teaching a child to read is essentially saving their life.”
She said children from low-income families are often surprised to hear they can keep a book. The media specialist at one school in Thomasville had to write a note to convince a mother that her child didn’t have to return a book to the library.
Encouraging parents to make reading with children a daily routine is important, Jacobs said.
“It’s my favorite part of being Miss North Carolina,” she said.
She said her own favorite book, one recommended by a sixth-grade teacher, is “The Giver” by Lois Lowry.
She said students at Salisbury Academy were curious about her crown ó if they could touch it and was it made of real diamonds? She said the crown is a powerful symbol for her position and one that she doesn’t take lightly.
One little girl in Rutherford County told her, “I cried when I heard you were coming.”
When talking about literacy, she stresses repetition ó because children like to predict what will happen next and they enjoy reading the same books over and over again.Jacobs also detailed some of the changes made to the Miss America pageant this year when The Learning Channel began televising it. The pageant moved to Las Vegas, and TLC also flew the 50 contestants to California to film a reality-type show without the women feeling the pressure of competing against each other.
“It ruined reality TV shows for me,” she said, being forced to have a microphone strapped on for her every word to be recorded.
The format changed for the pageant also, creating some memorable moments for the competitors, who had parents on stage with them at times.”I’ve been dancing since I was 7, but I’d never walked off the stage to see my parents’ faces,” she said. “It was incredible.”
One tidbit from the pageant: Miss Virginia, Hannah Kiefer, is also a High Point native. She and Jacobs had the same dance instructor from the time they were young ó can you imagine those odds or the pride the teacher had in seeing two of her students on the Miss America stage?
Jacobs said statistically a mom is more likely to have a son play in the Super Bowl than have a daughter in the Miss America pageant. But the 2002 graduate of Ledford High School noted an earlier graduate, Madison Hedgecock, picked up a Super Bowl ring as a member of the New York Giants.
“My jewelry is bigger,” she said of her crown.
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Contact Paris Goodnight at 704-797-4255 or pgood night@ salisburypost.com.