By Mike Finney

BEAR — Sophie Phillips was never one of those young girls who donned a toy tiara and sash and dreamed of one day becoming Miss America.

That just wasn’t her. In fact, she didn’t enter her first competition until 2017, when she was 21 years old.

But now Ms. Phillips — the current Miss Delaware — finds herself among 50 women with a chance to win the 100th Miss America Competition, which will be held from today through Dec. 16 at its new home, Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.

“I was convinced in 2017 to compete for the first time by one of my friends (at the University of Delaware) who was competing in competitions,” said Ms. Phillips, who has lived in Bear since 2014. “She told me about the scholarships and the community service and I got hooked to try that first time and absolutely loved it and decided to do it again.

“But I’m not the type of person who grew up watching Miss America or who really dreamed about being Miss America, but as soon as I started competing, it really did become a dream of mine. I feel like a lot of the girls I’m competing with are super pageant people and started when they were young, so I like standing out that way.”

Ms. Phillips, a University of Delaware graduate, was previously a Miss Southern Delaware winner. She’s an avid bicyclist who is currently pursuing a master’s degree in energy and environmental policy. She also has played the piano since she was 3.

Ms. Phillips hopes she will make it through until the end of the final night of competition, which will be Dec. 16, starting at 8 p.m. (streaming for free on Peacock).

“To win would actually be incredible,” she said. “That would be the first time Delaware won, and if I make top five even, that would be the first time Delaware got into the top five. So, trying to be a first this time. We’ll see what happens.

“We are a small state, and we don’t have some of the resources that the bigger states do, but I am so prepared, and I think I can do really well, so we’ll see how it goes.”

Ms. Phillips did reveal that, as a matter of coincidence, she will be the first interview done in this week’s competition, the first talent seen, “the first everything.”

The current Miss Delaware has lived in four different states — Delaware, Florida, Massachusetts and New York.

“This state (Delaware) means so much to me,” said Ms. Phillips. “I came here in 2014 for college and the reason I came here at all was because of the (UD) Marine Science campus (in Lewes) and the fact that Delaware just has so many awesome things like White Clay Creek State Park, and the demographics of Delaware are almost the exact to national demographics.

“So, any projects that you do in Delaware can be scaled up to a national level. I just find that so fascinating. So, it means a time to be representing the First State for Miss America, even though we’re so small, I know that I can make change on the national scale, and we can really make a name for Delaware.”

Advocating for environmental justice

Ms. Phillips will advocate for her social impact initiative, “Educated. Engaged. Empowered. Community-Driven Environmental Justice” at the milestone Miss America Competition, which was canceled due to COVID-19 concerns last year.

Her initiative advocates for Black, Indigenous and other People of Color (BIPOC) who are disproportionately subject to environmental hazards and frequently live close to industrial pollutants.

“I am working on environmental justice issues and I like to talk about it in a way that’s community driven,” Ms. Phillips said. “So, when I’m working with communities like Southbridge (in Wilmington) and the Route 9 and Route 13 corridor communities, I first asked (residents) what they want, what they need, and from there go on with projects.

“Oftentimes, we find people go into communities with their ideas, and they never take the time to really communicate with the communities to see what they really need — and that’s what’s going to create lasting change.”

Ms. Phillips is also working to develop community gardens and cooking classes to help create self-sustaining communities.

She is currently creating a wardrobe drive in conjunction with workshops to teach young women in the community about resume building and networking, while also supplying them with clothes they can use in an interview or any sort of life circumstance.

“So, that’s part of it,” Ms. Phillips said, of her initiatives. “And then the other part is working with policymakers to ensure that the changes that we’re making on the ground are going to stay through time, way past my time as Miss Delaware.

“So, it’s both of those types of jobs and types of work that I try to work on to change that will outlive me and my year (as Miss Delaware).”

Unexpected campaign highlight

One of the unexpected pleasures of Ms. Phillips’ reign as Miss Delaware came at a community garden in the Wilmington neighborhood of Southbridge.

That is where she met 6-year-old Lamar Marshall, grandson of Wayne Marshall, who owns the community garden.

“We were working on the garden and Lamar started dancing,” she said. “He started doing flips and these amazing kicks, so I had assumed he had dance lessons before, so I asked him about it and he said he had never had a dance lesson because his family couldn’t afford it.

“So, I took some videos of him, and I put it on social media. I tagged some local Delaware dance studios as well as the Alvin Ailey Dance Company in New York City, and Alvin actually saw it and showed some of his dancers, one of which was Akua Noni Parker, who grew up in Wilmington.

“(Ms. Parker) showed the video to the Wilmington Ballet and now Lamar is a scholarship student there, and he’s debuting his first-ever performance on December 17, so it’s been extremely exciting.”

Ms. Phillips’ unexpected discovery led her and her new friend Lamar to an appearance on the “Nightly News with Lester Holt.” She said “The Ellen (DeGeneres) Show” is also interested in speaking with them, as well as other news stations.

“It’s really blown up and I’m just so proud of LJ for starting dance and sticking with it and showing all of us what it means to really love something,” she said.

Ready for anything

Ms. Phillips said she was surprised to find that competition between contestants in such contests as Miss America is not as cutthroat as she would have expected.

She said most of the contestants support each other and cheer each other on. That has not seemed to change, even at one of the most famous competitions in the world.

“We’ve all been talking a lot,” said Ms. Phillips. “We have GroupMe, Snapchat (social media sites), so it’s constantly going all day. Basically, we have a nonstop schedule. It’s a lot of rehearsals when we’re not competing.

“We have some events because it’s the 100th anniversary of Miss America. So, there’s some special events that are going to be going on this week. I expect to get very little sleep but I’m very excited to be back with all the other women.”

When her time as Miss Delaware — and possibly even Miss America — comes to an end, she wants to be a park ranger in the National Park Service, working specifically on diversity, equity and inclusion in the STEM careers within the organization.

Even though Ms. Phillips didn’t get involved in these beauty-talent competitions until a later age, she said she would recommend them to any young girl looking to boost her self-esteem and possibly win a scholarship along the way.

“The reason I’d recommend it is because I have gained so many skills from competing that I really never thought would come from something like this,” she said. “My favorite thing to do now is interviews. That’s because I’ve gotten so comfortable talking to people because of my work with the Miss Delaware scholarship organization.

“Also, when I started competing in 2017, I seriously lacked confidence. I didn’t think I was good enough to do this. And by 2021, I had gained so much more confidence because of the experiences that I’ve had, also the connections that you build.

“I’m now working with the Secretary of the Interior, the CEO of National Wildlife Federation, I’ve been able to speak with both of our senators … you just build so many lifelong connections through this organization that will launch you into your career. So, I would definitely recommend it and I am so happy that I decided to compete.”