Thirty-three women plan to tap into their inner frontier woman after being chosen to compete  in the Miss Frontier Texas pageant for a chance to win a $3,000 scholarship.

Local museum Frontier Texas!, along with the help of the ACU student-run Ad/PR agency, Morris & Mitchell, organized the pageant to help the museum become more involved with the college community. The museum was also glad to have the ability to support a local student’s education, said Jeff Salmon, executive director of Frontier Texas!.

The competition originally called for 25 women who exhibited strength of character and  resourcefulness. However, eight more contestants than initially planned were chosen.

“With the quality of the applications and the resources available to us, there was no reason not to choose the 33 of them,” Salmon said.

Although the majority of the candidates are ACU students, they represent a variety of majors and backgrounds and local colleges.

Salmon stressed that this pageant requires well-rounded women with academic knowledge and a willingness to participate. Lyndi Trammell, freshman speech language pathology major from Santo, said she is excited to participate in the competition.

“I’ve never been in another pageant, but compared to what I see on Toddlers and Tiaras, Miss Frontier Texas is way more hands on than normal pageants and isn’t about outer beauty.” Trammel said. “It’s about being a frontier woman which takes gumption.”

Throughout the competition, the contestants will be given points for participating in and executing several activities and tests. These points are cumulative and, at the end, will determine the winner.

Last Tuesday, the contestants met and were given an overview of the competition for the first time. They toured the museum and received notebooks that included information about Frontier Texas!.

The contestants will be given a written test on Feb. 21 covering information they learned from the notebook and the tour. They then will receive a cooking lesson from Tom Perini, owner of Perini Ranch Steakhouse, and a lesson on the life skills necessary for a frontier woman to survive.

The candidates will take lessons on shooting a .50 buffalo gun and saddling and riding a horse and will attempt to perform what they’ve learned. Twelve semi-finalists will be chosen after this challenge.

The final challenge will be on March 23-24. The semi-finalists will set up a camp site and perform their frontier skills. After camping overnight, they will take part in a frontier obstacle course. Six finalists will be chosen to participate in the cooking challenge. For this, finalists will cook their food over an open fire. A panel of celebrity judges will score the food, and Miss Frontier Texas will then be crowned.

“A good number of the contestants have never ridden a horse or shot a gun.” Salmon said. “This competition doesn’t require prior knowledge, just the ability to learn.”