An Orangeburg native may be a future title holder in a national beauty pageant.

Pasha Franklin will travel to Las Vegas, Nev., to compete for the 2008 Miss Black USA crown. The pageant will take place June 22-23 at the Orleans Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

Franklin is a 2007 graduate of the Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities with a concentration in dance. She is currently a freshman pharmacy major at Lander University in Greenwood. Franklin said she hopes to one day becoming a member of the Pharmacy Board of America, which will enable her to take part in lowering medication costs and join in the fight against AIDS.

Pageantry is nothing new for Franklin. She has many titles, including Miss Black Teen Orangeburg USA, Miss Teen Maize Days, Miss Mellichamp Elementary, Miss Robert E. Howard, Little Miss S.T.A.R., All-American Teen Miss National and Miss Black Low Country USA. Additionally, Franklin was a first runner-up in the Queen of Roses pageant and a Miss South Carolina Teen USA state finalist.

"Pageants are more than a crown," Franklin said. "A pageant queen is a woman of service."

Some of Franklin's other accomplishments and affiliations include Who's Who Among America's High School Students, Lander University Dance Troupe, Tamalyn's Dance Centre, Orangeburg Civic Ballet and Betty Lane Models.

Preliminaries for the Miss Black USA pageant are June 21-22, and the final night of competition and crowning of Miss Black USA 2008 will be Monday, June 23.

Actor Lamman Rucker, who portrayed Troy in "Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married," is the official cohost of the pageant. He will be joined by former Miss Black USA, actress and producer of the "Tom Joyner Morning Show," Deya Marshea Smith.

The Miss Black USA competition is a program for young black women focusing on the complete woman -- mind, body and spirit. Franklin's platform is C.A.T.S. -- Cooperating Arts Through Services.

Contestants will be judged on personal interview, sports wear, talent, evening wear and question and answer.

Franklin has been preparing by shopping for the right attire and practicing her talent, which is ballet, she said.

Franklin said she is looking forward to being in Las Vegas because it will be her first trip there, and she said The Miss Black USA pageant is the most meaningful one she has participated in so far.

"To win Miss Black USA is kind of like helping America," Franklin said. "It's really big."

If she wins the title of Miss Black USA, her duties will include promoting her platform and participating in community service for various charities and foundations.

Franklin credits her accomplishments to her parents, Jerry and Chris Franklin, who she said have kept her grounded and never let the pageant world "get to her head."

For more information, or to vote for Franklin, visit www.missblackusa.org.

T&D Features Writer Candace Newson can be reached by e-mail at cnewson@timesanddemocrat.com or by telephone at 803-533-5540. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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