Nix competing this week in Miss Mississippi pageant

By Rita Howell
Though she’s not representing Batesville, officially, Charley Ann Nix will have plenty of hometown supporters pulling for her as she competes this weekend in the Miss Mississippi pageant.
Last fall Nix won the Miss DeSoto County Pageant, which qualified her to advance to the Miss Mississippi competition in Vicksburg.
But she’s quick to brag on her hometown in her profile on the Miss Mississippi Web site.
“My hometown of Batesville is a small Friday night football, fried chicken after church on Sunday kind of town,” she wrote. “It’s filled with the most hospitable, supportive, and kind citizens. I could not have asked for a better place to grow up!”
She’s making her second trip down the runway in Vicksburg, where she competed last year.
The 20-year-old Ole Miss biochemistry major is the daughter of Margaret Nix and Chuck Nix. She is the granddaughter of Pat Nix and Lesa Alford.
For her pageant talent, she will play the piano.
Don’t ask her to sing.
“Although I absolutely do not have any vocal ability, I love to attempt to sing every song I know in my house,” she wrote in her profile. “Most of the time it ends with someone begging me to stop!”
As part of their participation in the pageant, contestants have the opportunity to develop a “platform” to promote a cause or organization they feel passionate about.
Nix has worked for several years to initiate “Don’t Wait, Educate: A Bullying Prevention Program.”
She chose the issue based on personal experiences in the past.
“ If I could reach out to just one child and teach them how to handle bullies, I would feel that my program and I had succeeded,” she wrote in her pageant profile.
Nix, who is a Luckyday and Provost Scholar at Ole Miss, plans a career in the medical field.
Pageant Week events started yesterday with the Miss Mississippi Parade through downtown Vicksburg. Three nights of talent and swimsuit preliminaries begin Wednesday.
The Mississippi Pageant will be aired Saturday, June 24 at 8 p.m. on WMC-TV, Channel 5, Memphis, and WTVA, Tupelo. It can also be streamed online. Go to missmississippipageant.com