LITTLE ROCK — A few quick facts about Chanley Painter, Miss Arkansas USA 2009: She sported a perfect 4.0 grade point average throughout college. She plays a fiery "Orange Blossom Special" on a 200-year-old fiddle without a name. She can break a one-inch board in half - using either hand or even her feet. And she's a baker who has created the scrumptious-sounding "secret recipe cookies."
(Just don't ask her what ingredients are used in creating her cookies. Persuaded, she admits they contain butter, and might be nutty and sweet. Cajoled, she smiles her beauty-pageant-winning smile and replies, "If I told you they wouldn't be a secret, would they?")
On April 19, the 24-year-old Conway native will join 50 other contestants representing the 50 states plus the District of Columbia for the 58th Miss USA pageant in Las Vegas. The winner of the live broadcast on NBC will represent the U.S. at the Miss Universe 2009 pageant. Painter, who lives in Quitman with her father Michael, mother I'Lisa and sister Chelsa, will spend 16 days in Las Vegas, taking part in photo shoots, sightseeing adventures and preparing for the big night that includes a preliminary competition involving an interview, a swimsuit competition and an evening gown competition. Is she nervous?
"I don't get nervous," Painter said. "I love being up on stage. I love the fashion and the modeling.
"It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It's my first time to do this, and I remember growing up watching Miss USA."
Painter didn't grow up in the beauty pageant world - entering her first pageant at the age of 16. Apparently she's a natural though. She won Miss Teen Conway in January 2001 and was later crowned Miss Teen Arkansas in June 2001. But she took a six-year pageant break before competing for Miss Arkansas, finishing as runner-up in both 2007 and 2008.
"My dad knew it was an investment," Painter said. "He said to wait until I was 16, and I was old enough to know if it was something I really wanted to do.
But winning pageants is just one side of the multi-faceted Painter.
"I've been very busy," she said. "I read a quote eight or nine years ago that said - and I don't remember the exact quote - 'You'll be the same person as you were five years ago except for the books you read, the places you go and the people you meet.' And I don't want to be the same person I was five years ago."
Focused on academic achievements, the Conway High School alumna entered the University of Central Arkansas in 2003, graduating summa cum laude four years later with departmental honors in political science (minoring in speech communication) and a perfect 4.0 grade-point average earning her a presidential scholar designation. Her college accomplishments earned her UCA's Outstanding University Student award for 2007.
"I lived at home, but my family called me a stranger," Painter said about her studying habits.
In 2007 she entered the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Bowen School of Law and the William J. Clinton School of Public Service as a UALR Joint Degree candidate in jurist doctorate and master's in public service.
"I'm such a history buff so I've always been fascinated by the process of the government," Painter said. "I knew I wanted to be involved in the legal system."
With a degree in hand, she hopes to start a local organization focusing on juvenile legal rehabilitation.
"It sounds so trite to say, but young people are our future," Painter said. "I want to use my professional degree for public service.
"If I can help young people avoid these negative decisions and these negative actions I will feel rewarded."
But because of her pageant commitment, she's gone part-time this semester at the Clinton School and is sitting out law school this semester. (She finished top of her law school class her first year, and is working with six group members on a two-semester needs assessment for Heifer International's new Murphy Keller Education Center.)
Between pageant work, schoolwork and modeling - signed to Integrity Models, she's appeared in national magazines including Seventeen and Cosmo Girl Prom - Painter devotes blocks of time to volunteering. She's been involved with Choosing to Excel (a nonprofit comprehensive educational and character building initiative) in Conway since the eighth grade and, works as a spokesperson and volunteer adjunct instructor for the "Smart Choices, Better Chances" program of the Arkansas Attorney General's office.
She's also volunteered at Arkansas Children's Hospital, the Attorney General's Child Safety Fair at the Arkansas Arts Center, at Conway nursing homes playing the fiddle, with the American Lung Association of Arkansas and through Locks of Love among others.
"The one thing I have to work on is finding a balance in my life," Painter said. "I learned that in college. My mom sat me down a few years ago and said, 'Chanley, I'm going to teach you a new word: No.' I had to learn how to say, 'No.' I had to find time for myself and music has helped with that."
Painter is classically trained as a violinist, picking up the instrument in the sixth grade, choosing it over drums. ("As soon as I pulled the bow across the strings something clicked with me.") She was introduced to fiddling about 10 years ago.
She's won the 2004 Arkansas State Old-Time Fiddle Championship in Mountain View, taught American heritage music in China and made her Grand Ole Opry debut in June 2007 playing "Arkansas Traveler" before a packed house. She also fronts her own old-time fiddle band: Chanley and the Ready Boys .
"It gives me a sense of pride to carry on an Arkansas musical heritage and this American musical heritage; this art form. I love it."
She's also a 2004 graduate of Conway Citizen's Police Academy and holds a first degree black belt in Grandmaster Han's World Youn Wha Ryu Martial Arts.
But right now Painter is focused on the task at hand: Miss USA 2009. She's already attended three pageant sponsored boot camps in preparation, working out with different coaches including a public speech coach, life coach and a personal trainer. And if she doesn't walk off the stage in Las Vegas as Miss USA 2009, the pageant will be another experience Painter has collected.
"This is serious business," she said. "I'm learning skills I can use in my public career."
Third Degree with Chanley Painter
What would your superpower be?
"[To be] Elastigirl [from the movie The Incredibles]."
Who would play you in the movie about your life?
"Eva Gardner: I love her old Hollywood style and glamour, or a brunette Lucille Ball. She's goofy like me! Even though we don't look that much alike, I have always enjoyed the fun-loving style of Sandra Bullock. She always makes me smile!"
When you were a kid, what did you want to be?
"The first woman president of the United States!"
What would you eat for your last meal?
"Homemade: Mom's spaghetti, cheesy bread and salad! Yum! Store bought or delivery: Papa John's pizza, Coke and skittles."
What's the most played song on your iPod?
"I 'shuffle' my tunes between classic rock, pop jams and bluegrass! I always love listening to 'Proud Mary' by Tina Turner!"
If you could take a two-week vacation anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?
"Definitely traveling the world! After experiencing the breathtaking Great Wall of China, I was inspired to explore the other 'Wonders of the World.'"