Skip to main content

Beauty queen who shaved head for charity wins Miss Alaska title





ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Just three months ago, Debbe Ebben had no hair. On Saturday night, she was crowned Miss Alaska.
Ebben shaved her head in March to raise more than $4,000 for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, which donates money for childhood cancer research. She said she did it to let children who lost their hair because of cancer treatments know that it was OK to be bald.
Choosing her words carefully, she said losing one’s hair should be special — whether it’s voluntary or not.
“I wanted to put meaning and emotion behind it, and let them know why I’m doing it — for the kids,” she said. “I’m not shaving it to get attention. I’m not shaving it for publicity. I’m not shaving it because it’s a really easy hairstyle to go with. I’m shaving it for them.”
Ebben’s brown hair had grown back to a pixie cut by the time she became the state’s top beauty queen over the weekend, but she says she will likely keep her hair short when she represents Alaska at the Miss America pageant in January 2013.
“I’ll let it do its thing for a while,” she said, laughing. “I’ll consult the hair stylist before I go down.”
Ebben was the reigning Miss Chugiak-Eagle River when she picked St. Baldrick’s for the public service project that is required of all Miss Alaska pageant contestants. Baldrick’s gets its name from a combination of the words “bald” and “St. Patrick.” The organization was founded by three insurance executives who turned a St. Patrick’s Day party into a head-shaving event to help children with cancer.
Ebben said she got a feel of what the children go through.
“Like children who are fighting cancer, losing my hair was a really emotional experience, and something I hope they only have to go through once in their life,” she said.
As she approached the Miss Alaska pageant, she had to decide whether to keep the look. Her drastic haircut had been done in honor of a child, and she decided to let grow back her hair, so that the haircut wouldn’t be mistaken for a gimmick.
“I don’t want to be branded as the ‘bald beauty queen,’” she said.
She’s had two haircuts since March, and her hair is two inches at its longest.
In the upcoming year, she said, she plans to work with St. Baldrick’s and Headbands of Hope, which donates a spandex headband to a sick child and $1 to St. Baldrick’s for every headband it sells.
Bonnie Faulk, director of the Miss Alaska Scholarship Foundation, calls Ebben the epitome of the standards and values of the program.
“We are elated to have this young woman serve us,” Faulk said. “She has worked harder than many, many, many contestants in many years.”
Ebben said her road to Miss Alaska has “been a long journey.”
“This was my 16th pageant and it was more of, ‘The moment had finally come.’ And I was really happy it had come,” she said.
In lieu of entry fees, contestants raise money for the Children’s Miracle Network, the charity of the Miss America Pageant. Ebben was the pageant’s top fundraiser this year, raising nearly $1,500 through a community yard sale in north Anchorage.
Scholarships from the pageant, in turn, paid for Ebben’s college education.
“She’s out there. She’s the real deal,” Faulk said, who added that Ebben loves children and charitable events. “She’s what our program is about.”
SOURCE: Associated Press, 6/21/2012




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Trans-Identified Male Crowned “Miss Greater Derry 2023,” Takes Home Women’s Scholarship

A local beauty pageant is attracting ample mockery on social media after a trans-identified male was crowned the winner of the competition and awarded a scholarship intended for young women. Brían Nguyen , 19, was awarded the crown in the Miss Greater Derry pageant, held on November 8 in the Greater Derry area of New Hampshire. The competition is a locally-run event under the national Miss America series of pageants. In addition to winning the crown, Nguyen will receive the  Miss Greater Derry Scholarship , a financial award established to support young women. Nguyen, who is male, is a freshman at Nashua Community College majoring in Business Management. After his win, Nguyen wrote on  Facebook : “ I am ecstatic to be the FIRST transgender woman to be a Miss America local titleholder, and I hope to make everyone proud and become the first to walk the Miss America stage. I am Brían Nguyen, your Miss Greater Derry 2023 .” Nguyen had previously announced on Instagram that he has intention

Miss USA Vice-President Max Sebrechts Accused Of Sexual Harassment

IMAGE COURTESY: MISS ACADEMY  Max Sebrechts, the husband of Crystle Stewart, President of Miss USA organization (and formerly Miss USA 2008), has been accused of sexual improprieties by several Miss USA 2021 contestants, according to a YouTube video “Miss USA Scandal?” by Natly Denise, a “truther and pop-culture enthusiast.” You can watch the entire video here: https://youtu.be/8xM2jXL6MXw On her video, Natly displays a screenshot  of an anonymous email sent to the affiliates of IMG/Endeavor including to Paula Shugart, president of the Miss Universe Organization (MUO). The email was cc’d to Crystle and Michael Hannah (franchise director of Miss USA). The author of the email claims that MUO has been sent substantial evidence of Sebrechts’ sexual predatory behavior and Shugart has known about it for a while but didn’t say anything (obviously to cover it up and to protect Crystle). Natly also displays screenshots of direct messages sent to her by former Miss USA contestants (the names hav

Philippines wins Miss Universe 2015 - but in the most awkward way! / Review of the Telecast

Las Vegas, Nevada – December 20, 2015 – In front of a global audience, Miss Universe Philippines, Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach was crowned Miss Universe 2015 at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The telecast aired live on FOX for the first time ever.      Miss Universe Philippines Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach is a Filipino-German actress and model. Pia was born in Stuttgart, Germany and grew up in Cagayan de Oro, Philippines. Pia finished her secondary education with the ABS-CBN Distance Learning Center and studied culinary arts at the Center for Asian Culinary Studies in Metro Manila, Philippines. Pia is currently a stylist and writer for the lifestyle section of a leading newspaper in her country.      Emmy Award winner Steve Harvey hosted the three-hour event with live reporting from Roselyn Sanchez. Grammy Award-winning, multi-Platinum singer and songwriter SEAL, Grammy Award-winning sibling trio The Band Perry, and Golden Globe and Grammy Award-nominated Char