Miss USA 2006 - Tara Elizabeth Conner (Kentucky)
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What were the thoughts going through your mind when you were named Miss USA? My first reaction was that they called me for first runner up because I thought there was no way in the world I would possibly win Miss USA because I'm not the one. But I'm very excited, I�m so happy. I can not wait to see how far Miss USA can take me and how far I can take Miss USA. What is the first thing you�re going to do now that you�ve won? I�m really not sure what�s the first thing I�m going to do. I know that it�s going to be extremely busy. Of course I have no idea, I�ve never been Miss USA. I can tell you one thing I would love to do would be to go to Italy to go see my brother. He�s in the navy and we haven�t seen him in over a year. So hopefully maybe I can go over to his navel base and visit him. That would be awesome. What were you and Tamiko saying to each other up there? I was actually telling her to go win Miss Universe, because I was first runner up and hopefully I would be Miss USA. So I said, you are going to be the best Miss USA ever and I�m so proud of you. And then, again, I thought they called me for 1st runner up, but they called her. So of course I lost it. Tamiko is a beautiful, very intelligent, strong individual and I love her very much. Talk about the competition aspect of it, getting to this point, and what that meant to you. The competition aspect... this is the way I looked at it, I did not want to compete the entire time I was here because that would make for a bad experience. I just wanted to soak everything in, take everything as it is and make an impact as many times as I could. So to me there was no competition aspect. Even tonight, I didn�t get nervous because I was just happy to be where I was. If I had walked off just as I walked in, I would of been just as happy. So I just took it for what it was worth and embracing every second of it. What do you think the judges saw in you to crown the winner. What I hope the judges see in me was confidence and strength because a lot of people have an impression of Kentucky, and they don�t think we can carry ourselves as well as other northern states. Sometimes southern states are given a few misconceptions, but we are just as good, I promise. We can carry ourselves just as well. Now that you�re Miss USA, what would you say to the other 50 contestants? Now that I�m Miss USA, I just want to tell all of the girls that I�m so happy that I got to meet everybody. Everyone here made an impact on my life. I�ve learned something different from everyone because I try to make an attempt to greet everyone. Hopefully it made a difference and I can not wait to keep in touch with all of these girls. I love them so much especially my roommate, Rhode Island, Leeann Tingley, I love her very very much. And Nevada, love her, love her. I just love all the girls and hope they go so far in life, they are all still winners. What kind of reception will your hometown give when you go home as the new Miss USA? My hometown is probably very on edge right now. A lot of them are right here, but this is the biggest thing that has ever happened in my county and in my town. I�m just very happy and honored to have represented my state so well. Special Thanks to Miss USA 2006 for the interview |