Kelaiah Rae Wilson, a graduate, was a finalist in the Miss Brenau scholarship competition Feb. 4 on the Gainesville campus of the 134-year-old women's college. She is a freshman majoring in mass communication at Brenau University.
The overall winner in the competition was Amanda Nicole Bonilla, a dance studies major from Lawrenceville. Bonilla is the first Hispanic to be named Miss Brenau.
The Miss Brenau Scholarship Competition, which carries a top prize of $3,000, selects a first-year Women's College student who best exemplifies the Brenau Ideal. Penned in 1917 by the institution's president, H.J. Pearce, as a guiding philosophy, the ideal urges young women: "To find satisfaction in being rather than seeming; to find joy in doing rather than dreaming; to be prepared for service thereby earning the right to be served; to be pure in heart; vigorous in mind, discreet in action; to love deeply, to fear nothing, hate never; to enjoy that freedom which comes from knowledge of the 'Truth,' to be modestly conscious of the limitations of human knowledge and serenely confident of the limitless reaches of human endeavor."
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Miss Brenau contestants are judged by a panel of alumnae, faculty and others on a written essay, a personal interview and on-stage talent. Contestants are ranked according to their intelligence, poise, community spirit, compassion and stage presence.
The competition is held during Winter Weekend each year, a time when prospective students visit the campus to learn more about Brenau.
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