The 2004 Miss America pageant was held in Atlantic City, New Jersey on September 13th thru 18th. Miss California, Veena Goel, used her dancing talent and knowledge of current affairs to finish in the top five. The contest was won by Miss Alabama, Deidre Downs, an aspiring medical student.

On the 2nd night of preliminary competition, Veena was declared talent winner performing a jazz dance to "The Hot Honey Rag" from the musical Chicago. She won a $4,000 college scholarship for her talent. During the final night of competition, Goel and contestants from Alabama and Arkansas jointly won a quiz on current affairs adding up to five percent of a contestant's score.

Many of you may remember Goel from twirling competitions and her years as a College Majorette. She is an accomplished twirler, with five world titles and eleven national titles. Her combination of dance and twirling is beautiful to watch.

Goel graduated from UCLA with a major in Sociology in three short years. During her college years, Goel was the "Golden Girl" feature twirler for the UCLA Bruin Marching Band under the direction of Gordon Henderson.

Goel's platform is eating disorders and she hopes to educate Americans on eating disorders and healthy living. Goel was quoted saying "I have personally suffered from and successfully battled anorexia nervosa. I am in a unique position to partner with corporate sponsors not only to achieve my platform goals of healthy mind, body and soul, but also to help educate the public on the realities of Miss America. My personal experiences could go a long way towards dispelling the myth of the Barbie-doll clone who must starve herself to be successful." Goel has aspirations to partner with fast food corporations to promote healthier menu options.

In the finals Goel finished fourth runner up, winning a $20,000-scholarship for her master's program. Had Goel won the pageant, she would have been the first American of Asian descent to be crowned Miss America.

TwirlZone would like to congratulate Veena Goel and the other Miss America contestants on their individual performances in the 2004 Miss America pageant. To read more about Goel please visit the Miss California website.

You can also visit the Miss America website for more information on the 2004/2005 results and the Miss America organization: http://www.missamerica.org/

Author: Michelle Weiss
References & Photos: Miss America website, Miss California website, College Majorette Headquarters website