[title subtitle=”words: Marla Cantrell
images:Danny Barger, You’ve Got the Look Photography; Rachel Putnam, UAFS photographer, and courtesy Joni Fields-Adams”][/title]
There is a salted caramel cupcake in Joni Fields-Adams’ past she won’t soon forget. Her father bought it for her in Hot Springs, Arkansas just after she competed, along with forty-five other contestants, in the Miss Arkansas Pageant, the weekend of July 11. It had been awhile since Joni had eaten anything decadent. For months she’s been in pageant mode, first when she was vying for the Miss UAFS title she won in March, and again as she prepared for Miss Arkansas.
While she did not take home the title, she was awarded $1,300 in scholarships for winning the Wednesday Night Alpha and Overall Preliminary Lifestyle and Fitness Awards, and the Julie Blackwood Smart Swimsuit Award for having the highest G.P.A.
But back to the cupcake. “I ate every bite,” Joni says.
“Plus the crumbs!”
It’s easy to imagine Joni’s disappointment at not taking home the crown, but that’s just not the case. She is thrilled for the new Miss Arkansas, Loren McDaniel, who lives in Van Buren and competed as Miss Northwest Arkansas. And Joni says just being around the other contestants was inspiring. “Their passion and determination were very contagious and motivating to me!”
If Joni has a character trait that will serve her well throughout her life, it’s this ability to see the good in every situation. Life is a grand adventure and she doesn’t plan to miss any of it. She finds joy almost everywhere, in simple things like fishing with her family, and shopping for bargains with her mom, often in thrift shops and discount stores. “The dress I interviewed in for Miss UAFS cost me twenty dollars,” she says. “Last week I found a dress for eight dollars!”
In fact, it’s her family that comes up again and again as she talks about what has kept her on track. And it’s her family who inspired her pageant platform, called Project Unforgotten, which recognizes veterans for their service. “I want to inspire patriotism. When you hold your hand over your heart for the Pledge of Allegiance, that heartbeat was paid for by someone who fought for you. In Arkansas there are 250,000 veterans. I want to motivate people to volunteer at local veterans’ organizations.
“My papa, Joe Bozarth, and his four brothers have a combined total of more than 100 years of service in the United States Armed Forces,” Joni says. “All five brothers were career military. Joni calls her grandfather her role model. She spent a lot of time with him, growing up in Poteau, Oklahoma, not far from his goat farm. “I loved to go there. But I also was the girl who loved to dress up and put makeup on. I might be giving shots to the goats one minute and all dolled up and riding in a parade the next.”
She is smiling at this recollection. Her childhood was a happy one. When she was in the sixth grade, she transferred to Union Christian Academy in Fort Smith. When she was a junior, she entered the Miss Western Arkansas Pageant. “I got halfway through my dance routine and just forgot everything,” Joni says, “so I just free-styled the rest. I was the third runner-up. I thought if I could do that well and have that happen, I might really do well if I worked hard.”
Her next chance came when she was a freshman at UAFS. She entered again, winning second runner-up. It gave her the confidence to enter the Miss UAFS pageant this year. “It was a great experience. All the young women are intelligent. When you’re interviewed for pageants you have to be up to date on current events, and you have to know what you believe and why you believe it. I’ve learned who I am and how I’ve matured and how I’m evolving as a person. I’ve developed my communications skills, I know how to hold my head up in a room, how to have poise and presence. It’s so much more than beautiful faces on stage in a gown. It truly is the heart of a person, their intellect and their ability to communicate.”
The night Joni won the Miss UAFS title was magical. “It taught me that hard work pays off. The hours of studying current events, of working out, the days I ate the salad instead of the donut, it really paid off.”
Still, as soon as it was over, Joni headed to Village Inn and ordered a big stack of chocolate chip pancakes. “I devoured that, along with some bacon,” she says, grinning at the thought.
The next day, she began training for the Miss Arkansas Pageant, and working on her jazz dance routine that served as her talent. The work consumed much of her summer, but she loved it. The entire experience in Hot Springs is one she wouldn’t have missed for the world.
When she came home, her thoughts went immediately to competition. There are three upcoming pageants she has her eye on. And when she returns to UAFS later this month, as a junior, she’ll be studying to become the best journalist she can be. She someday wants to work as a news reporter, and she is currently interning at KFSM-TV as a production assistant.
But she’s in no hurry. “I just love the spirit of southern hospitality and love it at UAFS. (She’s a member of the Chancellor’s Leadership Council, something she enjoys immensely.) I love the fact that all the professors know my name. It’s such a community-based place.”
As she’s studying, she’ll also keep working to help veterans. Already she spearheaded a project that gathered Christmas cards, along with blankets and socks, for patients at the Veterans Hospital in Fayetteville. There will be more projects to come. She wants to honor those who served, and she wants her grandfather to know how much he means to her. “He’s the sweetest little cowboy you’ve ever met.”
Joni looks out across the room to the wide bank of windows. Beyond the windows the lawn is bright with flowers. Beyond the lawn is the main road that runs through Fort Smith, and beyond that are infinite opportunities. Joni can’t wait to see what her future holds, what the next part of her journey will bring. Even now, as she contemplates her next step, she is expecting great things, and she smiles again, ready to take on a world where anything is possible.
