Callie Thompson will make her first appearance as Miss Sugar Land at Wednesday’s welcoming reception for the 2010 Texas Meals on Wheels Conference at the Marriot Hotel in Town Square.

"Because the conference is taking place in Sugar Land, I thought it seemed fitting that I contact Miss Sugar Land," explained Samantha Elizabeth Greenwood of Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston, which is helping organize the three-day vendor event and training sessions to discuss critical issues, share best practices, and explore new ideas for serving senior citizens.

Thompson"My family used to be heavily involved in the pageant system, and for so many years I would always go to events and notice how excited the crowd would get when a queen would make an appearance," Greenwood said. "I wanted to bring in that same energy into this year’s Meals on Wheels state conference."

Thompson laughed. "People see the crown and say, ‘Oh my gosh. Who is this?’ And I always get the same question. ‘Is it real?’ No, it’s not real diamonds."

This summer, Thompson, 19, will be the first Miss Sugar Land to compete in the Miss Texas Scholarship Pageant, which selects the Lone Star State representative to Miss America. She won the local title at a pageant on Feb. 6 at Mayde Creek Junior High in Katy. For talent, she performed a lyrical dance to Via Dolorosa.

Three years ago, Thompson won the title of Miss Teen Texas on her first try.

"I had always wanted to be in pageants," said Thompson, "and I was used to competing in dance, so my dance teacher said, ‘Hey, you should do it.’ It was the talent portion that really convinced me."

She said she hopes that the Meals on Wheels event will be the first of many appearances she gets to make in Sugar Land.

"As Miss Teen Texas, I made about 75 appearances across the state," she explained. "I want to speak at as many schools as I can about my platform, which is preventing school violence through character education."

As a sophomore at Texas A&M University, Thompson lives in College Station, where she teaches dance to eighth-graders. She majors in business marketing, with a minor in communications and dreams of opening a culinary school in Dallas, where she hopes to become a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader.

"I have a lot of goals," she said.

That Miss Texas 2003 Sunni Cranfill is a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader "is not necessarily what sparked my interest," said Thompson, "but she’s funny, she’s cool. I like working with her." Cranfill was the choreographer at the teen pageant that Thompson won in July 2007.

A month later, Thompson represented Texas at the third annual Miss America’s Outstanding Teen pageant in Orlando, Fla.

"That was tiring," she admitted. "We were up at 5 a.m. and practiced non-stop and didn’t get to bed until midnight or 1 in the morning. But it was a lot of fun. I got to meet girls from all over the country. I shared a room with North Dakota."

In contrast to the national teen pageant where she was "sequestered in a hotel with the other girls competing," at the state pageant June 28-July 2 in Arlington, Thompson will stay in a hotel room with her parents, Jeff and Lisa Thompson of Katy. "That will be more relaxing," she said, "hanging out with my family, because family is supportive. They will say, ‘You did so good tonight,’ and keep me pumped up."

The 33 contestants are divided into three groups that compete in different categories on different days. On Monday, June 28, Thompson will interview with the panel of judges that morning, then compete in evening wear and answer an on-stage question that night. The next night, she will compete in swimsuit. Then on Wednesday night, she will perform a lyrical dance to the song Footprints in the Sand, sung by Leona Lewis.

The 75th anniversary pageant celebration will continue on July 1 with an afternoon reception honoring all former contestants and volunteers and a black-tie gala that evening.

On July 2, there will be a brunch and autograph session with former Miss Texas titleholders and comments by two former Miss Americas, Phyllis George and Shirley Cothran, who represented Texas in Atlantic City.

At 6 p.m., a number of former Miss Texas winners will perform at Texas Hall on the campus of the University of Texas at Arlington. Then at 7 p.m., Thompson hopes to hear her name called in the Top 10 and compete that evening for the title of Miss Texas 2010.

Whether the pageant will be telecast or live-streamed on the Internet is still up in the air, said Thompson.

Thompson’s competition outfits are from Wardrobe The Boutique, said Ephraim Danforth, director of the store at 16069 City Walk in Sugar Land’s Town Square.

Like all preliminaries to Miss Texas, the Miss Sugar Land Scholarship Pageant is open to young women ages 18-24 throughout the state, and not limited to residents of any one locale.

Thompson grew up in Bear Creek Plantation in Katy, which is located in three different counties — Fort Bend, Harris and Waller — and where, Thompson said, it isn’t unusual for students on one side of the street to attend one high school and those on the other side to attend another.

In 2008, Thompson graduated from Cy-Springs High School, where she was captain of the school’s Panteras drill team.

Sheila Milner of Houston is executive director of the pageant. Milner said, "I chose Sugar Land as a locale because it is a great area to represent with its growth as the No. 1 city to live in [in] the United States. I myself do a lot of business and have a business in Fort Bend County and thought the area needed to be represented in our state."

Milner is also director of Sugar Land’s Outstanding Teen pageant, a preliminary to Miss Teen Texas. This year’s winner is Kate Samuleson, 15, daughter of Sandra Jacobson, and a freshman at Seven Lakes High School in Katy.

"Callie and Kate will be very visible in the local community in the upcoming year appearing at schools and local charity events," said Milner.

To schedule the titleholders at a local function, send a message to happymil@aol.com, said Milner.