CARROLLTON - What do former beauty contestants do when the bright lights dim and the runway's cleared?
If they're like Reagan Hughes, 18, they get busy - busy being a college freshman, running two schools of ballet, and winning parts in Greenwood Little Theatre productions.
And just maybe, they feel a bit inspired to do the beauty pageant all over again as they watch the young woman who won the pageant in which they were competitors, win third runner-up in the Miss America Pageant.
Hughes acknowledges that it is all true.
She didn't get in the top 10 in the Miss Mississippi Pageant earlier this year, but she eagerly watched her winning pageant mate place well in the contest. "I knew she'd do well," Hughes said, generously.
Watching also made her want to work toward winning the right to compete in next year's state pageant as well, she admitted.
Tall at 5 feet, 11 inches, Hughes was Miss Grenada County, a title she'll relinquish in February.
Meantime, her hours are booked rather solidly.
In September, she opened the Carrollton-Grenada School of Ballet. She has a studio in the basement of the old Grenada post office and another in a spare classroom in Carroll Academy's Jennie McBride Building. She has 10 students in Carrollton.
In Grenada, she has 50, "and I'm getting about 25 more. The Ranch Schoolhouse in Grenada is arranging to send fifth- and sixth-grade girls to me," Hughes said.
Her father's parents, James and Margaret Hughes of Greenwood, donated furniture for the Grenada studio. Her mother's parents, Charles and Christine Reagan of North Carrollton, made two bars for her Carrollton studio, where she teaches from 4:30-5:15 p.m. Thursdays.
Meantime, she started her freshman year of college at Holmes Community College in Grenada. She still lives with her mother and stepfather, Christy and Glenn Hogue of Carrollton, "so it's real convenient. Next year, I'm thinking of Southern, Belhaven, or Ole Miss for schools.
"I'm interested in either business or theater and arts, because that's what my heart is. I'd love to open a dress shop one day. If I go to Ole Miss, that's still close enough to commute to Grenada to keep the ballet school there," she said.
Hughes started taking ballet when she was 3. After her longtime teacher, Mary Gunn, moved away over the summer, Hughes put on some different slippers, those of ballet teacher.
Hughes is also taking ballroom dancing in Jackson. She's warmed up with the Moscow City Ballet - a career high point so far. She and a fellow student, Beth Gunn, did this when the prestigious ballet performed in Cleveland. A few summers ago, Hughes did a series of intensive programs with Ballet Magnificat. "I hope to branch out in other types of dance," she said.
Hughes goes to classes at Holmes from 8 a.m.-1 p.m. Monday -Thursday, so she gets up at 5 a.m. Then, she concentrates on studio work.
"Sometimes I can't find enough hours in the day," she admitted. "I nap anytime, any place I can find. I wouldn't change anything, though; I can really do well on a 30-minute nap. I love the children. That's the key."
She doesn't have any male students, though some have expressed an interest. She does have several adult students at the Grenada studio.
Already she is planning a May recital. "We'll be working on it starting in December. I'll do a play ballet, but I haven't broken the news yet; I'm still looking at costume books.
"I will be looking for extras from the community, though; I know that. Maybe as many as 10."
The other big thing is the part she just won in a Greenwood Little Theatre play, "The Last Night of Ballyhoo," which will run Dec. 7-10. Hughes will appear as the brainy half of a pair of cousins. The play was written by Alfred Uhry, who wrote "Driving Miss Daisy".
"There'll be a little waltzing," Hughes said.
