Scholarship money from Miss Mississippi a big help, second-year student says

Growing up in the small town of Belmont, Miss., Jessica Sparks was always intrigued by the glitz and glamour of beauty pageants.

"I always watched them growing up with my mom and my grandmother--we'd watch Miss Mississippi and Miss America--and it was just so much fun for us--we'd get popcorn and Diet Sprite and sit in the living room and watch the pageants," she says.

"I started playing the piano at a young age, and I thought it would be so much fun to play the piano in one of those big pretty dresses [in a pageant]," she says.

But Sparks' goal wasn't to be a beauty pageant winner--she wanted to be a doctor. "I can't remember a time that I didn't want to be a doctor--when people ask me 'When did you know you wanted to be a doctor?'--I honestly don't know," she says.

Currently in her second year at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Jessica recently received the Allman Scholarship, which is awarded each year to contestants in the Miss America pageants.

Sparks entered her first pageant as a senior in high school--a state pageant called Miss Mississippi National Teenagers--

and won. "I got to compete nationally here in Nashville, and I remember coming up here and thinking that I really want to go to medical school at Vanderbilt. And so I guess it was a sort of prediction about the future," she says.

After her victory as Miss Mississippi National Teenagers, Sparks decided she should try to only focus on her pre-med degree at Mississippi State. But it was difficult for her to give up her love for pageants. "One day I saw an ad for the Miss Mississippi State Pageant and I thought it would be fun to be a title-holder, so I tried it and loved it--and I won."

Even after she came to Vanderbilt University Medical School, Sparks competed in the Miss Mississippi Pageant as Miss Mississippi State and finished in the top 10. She also received the Women in Medicine Award--a competitive $2,500 award given by the Miss Mississippi Corporation.

She went on to compete in this year's Miss Mississippi pageant as Miss Alcorn County and got in the top 10 once again. In this year's pageant, she also won a talent preliminary and the Women in Medicine Award again--as well as recently receiving the Allman Scholarship.

All of these awards have not only been a great source of pride for Sparks, they have also helped her financially.

"It's been such a wonderful blessing [receiving scholarship money] with all the other expenses for medical school, it's been a huge help to me," she says.

"Of course when I first came [to medical school], there were people that thought what I was doing was degrading to women, parading around in a swimsuit and a pair of heels. But I really feel that if you can do that, you can do anything. And when I came in for medical school interviews, I wasn't nervous because I had probably 50 mock interviews for pageants in preparing for Miss Mississippi and so I was a lot more comfortable with selling myself for interviews and answering questions."

Sparks plans to be a pediatric endocrinologist, enjoys her hectic schedule as a medical student and is excited about the future.

"I can't think of anything I don't love about medical school--even the studying--I enjoy it because it's something I've always wanted to do--it's fascinating. And my classmates, I can't say enough good things about how wonderful they are and getting to learn medicine with such a good group of professors--If I had to design a dream medical school I couldn't have outlined anything any better, so I'm very happy here," she says.