Jessica Pray traveled throughout England during her senior year of high school in attempt to jump-kick her singing career, she made it to the top-10 in the Miss America Pageant in 2012, and she has landed the principal part in the University of Iowa’s upcoming summer opera production. Don’t let all of this success fool you though; Jessica is just your average student at the University of Iowa.
ABOUT JESSICA PRAY
This 20-year-old has been musical her whole life, beginning piano at the age of 6. Growing up in Johnston, Iowa (just north of Des Moines), Jessica even took up the French horn, which she said is really not that that easy!
It wasn’t long before she fell in love with classical music and began singing regularly. Jessica was forced to pick between instrumental music and singing which lead her to discover her number one passion, opera.
A few months before her senior year of high school, a promoter from England contacted her because he had found a video of her on YouTube and loved her capabilities (Justin Bieber’s not the only one!). The well-known and respected promoter was Mel Bush, who had worked with various artists like Elton John, Led Zeppelin, and Queen. After interviewing with him and singing for him in New York City shortly after, she decided that she would go for it to become the third young woman in the world-wide classical-crossover trio he was creating.
Although it didn’t work out because of her age (17 at the time), and record companies’ budgets being tightened, Jessica Pray still had a lot in store for her in the future.
MISS IOWA
It started when she was at the University of Iowa for an audition and a grad student asked her if she had ever been in a pageant. The student suggested that Jessica would be the perfect fit for Miss Iowa, and so that night Jessica got on her laptop and researched.
After hours online, she knew that the Miss Iowa title for the Miss America competition was what she wanted. She emailed her application, met the requirements shortly after (You have to win a local title before competing in the Miss Iowa competition, so Jessica entered into the Miss Muscatine competition and she won!). She was well on her way of becoming Miss Iowa 2011.
In June of 2011, Jessica won every part of the Miss Iowa competition. This included swimsuit, evening gown, talent, and interview. She was ecstatic for the opportunity, but maybe not for the reasons most would expect…
WHY THE MISS IOWA COMPETITION FOR MISS AMERICA, AND NOT MISS IOWA USA?
Jessica said there is a common misconception about the two competitions [Miss America and Miss USA], and there are actually huge differences.
Miss America is the largest scholarship provider for young women in the entire world, whereas Miss USA is a beauty competition owned by Donald Trump, and whose driving factor is the swimsuit round.
Another difference Jessica pointed out is that Miss America’s requires every contestant to be involved in service and have a platform. Jessica’s platform was blood donation, and he national platform every girl serves in addition to her own platform is the Children’s Miracle Network.
Jessica’s biggest reason for wanting to compete was to share her singing talents on stage. Therefore, a major deciding factor was that Miss America has a talent round, but Miss USA does not.
I asked Jessica what the most important reason why was, and her reply was, “I chose Miss Iowa America over Miss Iowa USA because instead of winning prizes or maybe a modeling contract, I won scholarship money for my education. (Jessica won $16,000!) It also costs no money to enter. “
MISS AMERICA
It’s not all glamour and beauty once you get to the Miss America competition, and Jess will be the first to admit it. She said it is all sort of a blur to her now, but extremely exciting at the time.
She made it through the first cut from 53 women to just 15. She competed in swimsuit (15 women), evening gown (12 women), and then had her dream come true when she was able to sing on stage in the talent portion of the competition (10 women).
She was cut before the interview round, but Jessica said that she was sort of relieved because that is definitely the most nerve-racking of them all. She also said that she was disappointed in her vocal performance because she thinks she could have sang a song better-suited for her high-range voice. The Miss America Organization encouraged girls to choose a popular song, which is a bit difficult when you are an opera singer. Therefore, Jess went with the well-known “You Raise Me Up” by Josh Groban. Looking back, she wishes she would have chosen a lesser-known operatic song to really show off her talent.
LIFE AFTER MISS AMERICA
She said that besides her terrible living situation (hey, I’m her roommate!), everything is going very well for her. Because of her duties as Miss Iowa, Jessica had to take a year off of college, which makes her a sophomore here at Iowa. She is majoring in Vocal Performance, as well as Ethics & Public Policy.
This past semester you could see her bartending at The Airliner on the weekends. Now, she has rehearsal almost every night for her role as Servilia in the upcoming opera production, to be held in May, “La Clemenza di Tito” by Mozart.
This summer she has earned her role as the main principle part, Phyllis, in “Iolanthe” by Gilbert and Sullivan. She will take the stage for this in mid-July.
As for her social life, Jessica likes to spend time with her boyfriend Jonathan, and enjoy the nightlife Iowa City has to offer on the weekends.
Next year Jess will be competing in more vocal competitions to gain exposure. She will hopefully then become an apprentice after graduation with an opera company, or jump right into the performing art of opera landing roles in popular productions.
Writer’s Note: I met Jess last year one time, and she was looking for roommates for the 2012-2013 school year. She went to high school with a girl I had currently been living with, and we needed a 5th roommate for our apartment. So, we invited Jess to live with us, and this year has been nothing short of fun.
You would think a girl with all of this success would be a bit narcissistic, but Jess is literally the complete opposite. She’s just your average girl!