Birmingham-area Baptist wins Miss Alabama

On June 10, a dream came true for Melinda Toole.
   
The NorthPark Baptist Church, Trussville, member won the Miss Alabama 2006 crown.
   
“I am so humbled and so blessed,” said Toole, a recent graduate of Samford University in Birmingham. “The other 47 girls (in the competition) are all leaders in their communities. I am so thankful to God for this honor.”
   
The competition, held at Samford’s Wright Center, is a preliminary event for the Miss America pageant.
Competing as Miss Samford University, Toole wowed the home crowd with her vocal performance of Andrea Bocelli’s “Time to Say Goodbye.“ She won a talent preliminary with the song earlier in the competition.
   
The daughter of Donald and Ann Toole, she began her pageant career while in the sixth grade at Rudd Middle School in Pinson. Toole continued competing in pageants while in high school and became interested in the Miss America organization and the idea of competing in Miss Alabama preliminaries through her acquaintance with former Miss Alabama Jana Sanderson.
   
While the school pageant titles seemed to come easily for Toole, the Miss Alabama preliminaries were far more competitive and demanding.
   
She competed in 23 Miss Alabama preliminaries over two years’ time before winning her first, Miss Greater Greenville 2004. 
   
In 2005 — competing as Miss Trussville — Toole placed in the top 10 finalists for Miss Alabama and received honorable mention for her platform, character education.
   
Although she considered retiring her evening gowns then, the opportunities to earn scholarships for graduate school and hone her interview skills were too valuable to ignore. Toole decided to try again, winning Miss Samford in November 2005 to guarantee her spot in the 2006 Miss Alabama Pageant.
   
“The night she won the Miss Samford University preliminary, she told me how she realized what an honor it was and how she would take her new job very seriously and work as hard as possible,” said Lauren Welty, Miss Samford University pageant director and Samford student. “She’s done exactly that and more.”
  
Toole credits her faith in God for bringing her this far. “God has led me every step of the way,” she said. “I can see His hand in every experience.”
   
As Miss Alabama, Toole wants to bring in more sponsors for the Miss Alabama organization and visit elementary schools to promote her platform of character education. She also plans to continue working to pass a resolution in the Alabama Legislature to support and improve character education in public schools.
   
While doing all that, Toole is also preparing for the Miss America contest.
   
“We’ve been taping the Miss America pageant since Melinda was in sixth grade, and … it’s hard to believe that now we’ll be watching her in it,” Ann Toole said. 
   
When her pageant commitments are over, Melinda Toole looks forward to applying her elementary education degree in the classroom and pursuing her master’s degree.