In December 2010, Laura McKeeman wondered aloud to her Zeta Tau Alpha sisters about how she could get money to pay for her Summer class.
When her friends suggested that she enter Florida Blue Key’s Miss University of Florida Pageant to win some money, McKeeman rejected the idea — at first.
Nearly two years later, the 24-year-old UF alumna placed in the top 16 as Miss Florida in the Miss America pageant Saturday.
“I came away with a bunch of great friends,” McKeeman said. “I’m excited to tell my kids and grandkids.”
McKeeman, who graduated in 2011 with a degree in telecommunication, passed the swimsuit round of the competition but did not advance to the evening-gown round.
“It was such an honor to be called,” she said. “It was a total surprise to me.”
McKeeman began entering pageants as a junior in college. Since Miss UF, she has competed in nine pageants, and she won Miss Florida in July 2012.
McKeeman started preparing for the national competition when she won Miss Florida.
As a FOX Sports reporter covering Pacific-12 Conference basketball, she said she found herself rehearsing her dance routine while on a conference call with coaches.
While she was a student at UF, McKeeman was involved with her sorority, Cicerones and WRUF Sports Radio 850.
“UF is the type of school that can truly open doors, no matter where you knock on them,” she said.
Steve Russell, sports director at WRUF-AM 850, worked with McKeeman on “The Cheap Seats” show. He said he watched Miss America to support his former student.
“For anyone who wants to make it, she’s proof that you can,” Russell said. “She’s a role model.”
Mara Abeleda, a 23-year-old finance alumna, was a freshman when she first met McKeeman on a Cicerones tradition keepers tour. The competed in the Miss Florida pageant together.
“We never felt like we were ever competing against each other,” Abeleda said.
McKeeman will juggle her work with her Miss Florida duties, which involve traveling the state for speaking engagements until July.
“It would’ve been such an honor to be Miss America, but I love being Miss Florida,” she said.
Contact Colleen Wright at cwright@alligator.org.
