Miss Nevada USA 2011 counts her blessings

The sparkly metal carrying case with the see-through lid that Sarah Chapman places casually on the coffeehouse chair is one powerful piece of luggage.

The case is emblazoned with Chapman's name and title -- "Miss Nevada USA 2011" -- and every single woman who happens to walk by reads those words and then immediately casts a furtive peek inside the case, hoping to catch a glimpse of the crown and the sash that rest inside.

And the men who walk by? They, understandably, ignore the case and sneak peeks at Chapman who, wearing a sundress and an incandescent smile on this particular afternoon, is the very quintessence of a Southern Nevada spring.

One week from today, Chapman will wear that crown and that sash -- and a gown a bit more formal than that sundress -- when she represents Nevada at the 2011 Miss USA Pageant at Planet Hollywood Resort.

The pageant, which will feature contestants from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, begins at Planet Hollywood at 6 p.m. It will be telecast live on the East Coast by NBC. It can be seen tape-delayed locally at 9 p.m. on KSNV-TV, Channel 3. This is the fourth year that the event has originated from Planet Hollywood.

For Chapman, 27, the event marks the culmination of pageant dreams sparked when she was just a kid. Now that those dreams finally are coming true, it turns out that they're everything Chapman could have hoped for.

Chapman brings to the pageant striking girl-next-door looks and an outgoing personality. That last quality -- one that grows out of her knack for making people whom she's just met feel like old friends -- is one Chapman particularly has enjoyed employing since being crowned Miss Nevada USA 2011 in November.

"I love meeting people," Chapman says. She laughs. "I can go out and strike up a conversation with a wall. I can talk with just about anybody."

Chapman is a California girl, born and raised in San Jose, and, she admits, a pageant follower for as long as she can remember. As a kid, Chapman loved to watch televised pageants with her older-by-three-years sister, Ellen (who, by the way, also was a Miss USA state titleholder a few years back).

"I always admired the ladies who would be onstage, just how elegant they were," she says. "There's a class about a pageant girl. It wasn't so much like sex appeal but, more, almost like a fairy tale, a Cinderella story."

Chapman entered her first pageant at 16 -- she wanted to enter one at 13, but her parents made her wait -- and, to her surprise, went home with the crown.

"It was more like a family pageant," Chapman says. "There was a family picnic and no makeup or anything like that."

She takes no real credit for the victory, though. Chapman figures it had to do mostly with "my excitement to be there. I loved being around the other girls onstage. I think that's probably what got me that first one: I was just so darned excited to be there and on that stage."

She laughs again. "In fact, I remember I tried to sleep with my crown that night. My mother was, like, 'That could be dangerous. Why don't you just put it away?' "

Chapman continued competing in pageants during high school, mostly for fun. But she soon realized that pageants also could help her to earn money for college.

"My parents were not poor, but we were not wealthy," says Chapman of what she describes as a "middle class" upbringing. "I didn't know what designer jeans were until I was 21 years old. I just wasn't in the world of knowing what designer jeans were, but I was well taken care of."

During college, first at Sonoma State University and then at San Jose State University -- from which she graduated with a bachelor's degree in child and adolescent development -- Chapman worked two jobs and continued competing in pageants.

"I really learned to appreciate the value of a dollar really young, having to pay for the things that were most important to me," she says. "So (pageants) helped me get scholarship money and get organized. I also think (pageants) helped me to be a little more outgoing."

After college, Chapman worked in a San Francisco preschool, continuing to compete in the occasional pageant along the way. She also had begun modeling at 19, and often would travel to Las Vegas to work trade shows and conventions.

Through those professional gigs -- as well as vacations and visits with a college friend who had moved here -- Chapman came to like Las Vegas. Two years ago, seeking a change of scenery and a new challenge, she decided to move here. Last year, she entered the Miss Nevada USA pageant for the first time.

"To my surprise, I won," she says. "It was interesting because I think, in my head, I was at peace with however it was going to end up. The age cutoff for Miss USA is 27, so this is my very last year, and I think being at peace with the outcome, however it might go, was what led me to be so comfortable onstage, and I think that (translated) well to judges."

Chapman calls herself "so grateful" for the opportunity she now has to represent Nevada and seek the Miss USA title. While she would have to move to New York City if she does become Miss USA 2011, Chapman says she has found a home in Las Vegas.

What does she like about Las Vegas? The shows, Chapman says, and the shopping, and the city's never-ending array of events, openings and parties.

But she adds: "I love Red Rock. I am a nature girl at heart. I love being outdoors, and I love the heat. I love sweltering in my car. I don't even use my air conditioning.

"And our sunsets. Oh, the sunsets are just incredible. I have never seen sunsets as beautiful as the sunsets here in Las Vegas."

Chapman says she's also grateful for the chance she has, as Miss Nevada USA 2011, to work with such charities as the USO and the Susan Komen Race for the Cure, because doing so "can make a huge difference in the lives of other people."

And, she's grateful for the chance to represent Nevadans as their Miss USA ambassador. "I get emotional about it," Chapman says as her voice begins to waver just a bit.

Catching herself, she laughs. "A lot, actually," she adds. "My (pageant) director is like, 'Oh, gosh, when are you going to stop being so grateful? It's been six months. Have it sink in.' My mom says the same thing. But I don't ever want to take one day for granted, because it's going to come and go too quickly for me to not appreciate it and take the time to appreciate it while I can. It's just an eye-opening experience."

Chapman works as director of a Las Vegas Valley preschool. Students there call her "Miss Sarah," and, yes, they have seen, and even have tried on, her crown and sash.

"I let kids wear the crown and the banner," she says. "They'll stand very still like they don't want to move."

It's kids, Chapman says, who seem to most appreciate what those symbols of pageant royalty represent. So, she enjoys using her title in the service of education by encouraging kids to, for instance, become involved in activities that serve the community, just like she and other Miss USA contestants do.

And, as an educator, Chapman takes pride in having a chance, as Miss Nevada USA 2011, to inspire young girls.

During a Mother's Day event, Chapman was reading a story to a group of moms and kids. "After it, a little girl wanted to try my crown on, so I let her try it on and she had her hair in a ponytail. She went to her mom and came back, and her hair was out of the ponytail and she waved her head like this" -- Chapman does a "Charlie's Angels" head flip -- "and she said, 'I have hair like you.'

"I'm like, 'Oh, I love you!' She's 4 years old and so sweet, and she had to take her hair out of a ponytail to show me she had hair just like me."

Contact reporter John Przybys at jprzybys@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0280.