Erika Harold started off the new millennium with a bang, to say the least. In 2000, she was honored among the top 40 college student-leaders in the nation by being selected as a member of USA Today's All-USA College Academic Second Team. Then, in 2002 she became a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Illinois and was accepted into Harvard University Law School. But, Harold won't be enrolling in Harvard this fall and she's got a perfectly good reason not to. She will be too busy touring the nation as Miss America 2003. This past September, the 22-year-old from Urbana, IL won the title just three months after being crowned Miss Illinois 2002 where she won the preliminary talent competition, the Jim Price Memorial Community Service Award and the Miss America Community Service Award.

As difficult as it may be to imagine, Harold's preparation for the Miss America competition wasn't a result of years of childhood pageantry. She's just got the right combination of brains, beauty, social brawn and an intense desire to pass on a message to youth. What's more, she is not only an intelligent, capable, woman with something to say, she can say it in six different languages.

"I did not start competing until I was 18; I was a rookie to the whole system," said Harold. "And I did it so I could earn money for school and to have the opportunity to work on a platform."

Now, having won more than $80,000 in Miss America scholarship money, she will spend the next year touring the country to promote the platform, Empowering Youth Against Violence: "Respect Yourself, Protect Yourself." In other words, she'll take on good old-fashioned bullies. No, it's not quite world peace, but it is peace in each child's own world. And that is equally worthwhile.

• In a September 2002 article, the American Medical Association described bullying as a complex and abusive behavior with potentially serious social and mental health consequences for children and adolescents.
• In 2001, more than 400,000 youth ages 10 to 19 were injured as a result of violence, according to the Center for Disease Control's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.
• In a 2002 survey of high school students, the CDC also found that more than one-third of the respondents reported being in a physical fight in the past 12 months, and 4% were injured seriously enough to require medical treatment by a doctor or nurse.

Erika Harold has pledged to take the emphasis off the victim and to go to the root of the problem.

"I was a victim of racial and sexual harassment in the ninth grade, " she said. When you allow it to go unchecked at that time, you send a message that it's appropriate and it can just escalate in high school. Only 12 states have anti-harassment laws for schools. I want to see it in all 50 states," said Harold in a press conference the day after she became Miss America.

Standing up for what's right

Standing up to prevent youth violence is not a new endeavor for Harold, she committed to eradicating it long before becoming Miss America. She twice received the Miss America Organization's State Community Service Award for her platform, Teenage Sexual Abs-tinence: "Respect Yourself, Protect Yourself." And, for more than three years, she served as representative for Project Reality, a national abstinence-centered education program, by discussing her views on the benefits of abstinence at national and state conferences, on radio programs, with legislative offices and in a written Congressional testimony.

She also spoke to thousands of students, organized countless events and designed informational handouts to encourage young people to construct and speak out about their own reasons for making a commitment to abstinence.

So, can you imagine her reaction when, after overcoming bullying in the ninth grade, being accepted into Harvard Law School, and finally having the chance to share her message with the nation's youth, she was "bullied" into not discussing sexual abstinence during her reign?

"One of my jobs as Miss America is to be a role model to young people and to provide them with my story as an example of how they can achieve positive things in their lives. My personal commitment to abstinence from drugs, sex and alcohol in my opinion helped me to accomplish many of my goals. If I were prevented from speaking about that I think it would be very disingenuous in terms of serving as a role model," said Harold, who plans to pursue a career in Public Interest Law and ultimately run for a public office.

"To suddenly become silent on this issue once I became Miss America would cause young people to whom I had already spoken to question where I stood on these issues and to question whether or not I still maintained my commitment."

After two days of discussions with pageant officials, she succeeded in demonstrating the importance of her message. She will talk about abstinence from drugs, alcohol and sex as it relates to youth violence and peer pressure.

A plan for working smartly

Juggling the demands of college life and pageant life was not as difficult for her as one might expect because the activities were parallel to those of her everyday life. In addition to her community service, Harold had been taking voice lessons since she was 15 and continued them to improve her vocal performance ability. Thus, the opera singer had no problem wowing the judges with her performance of the aria Habanera.

"In terms of the physical fitness aspect of the competition, I got myself on a regular physical fitness program that was comprised of running, weightlifting and other physical fitness endeavors. And, since I worked in a news station, current events was something of which I was already cognizant. Competing in the pageant gave me an opportunity to put together all the pieces of the puzzle that I felt I was already holding and gave me a specific, tangible, quantifiable goal to reach toward," says Harold who majored in political science and pre-law.

Although competing for the crown may not have been overwhelming, she expects a challenge in being able to accomplish her platform goals in only one year. And so, she will dedicate the year immediately following her reign to speaking full time.

"I think the second year will definitely help me to finish up goals that I have set. I plan to collaborate and develop partnerships with other organizations that work on this issue. There's certainly no sense in re-inventing the wheel," she said.

And then, in the fall of 2004, Erika Harold will attend Harvard University Law School.

"The Miss America Organization strives to gain recognition as a scholarship pageant rather than a beauty pageant and stresses that the young women who participate in the system will use their winnings to further their educational goals. And that's certainly the way I'll be using my winnings," she said.

Does she have a message for her fellow Black collegians? 

"We have to work hard to strengthen ourselves as a community and be willing to help each other in times of need. This means that once people reach a level of success, it's important for them to be willing to give back to their community and hopefully edify those who have not been the beneficiaries of similar opportunities."

Harold encourages readers to set goals and to work hard, despite people who attempt to discourage your efforts.

"You have to know within yourself what you actually want to achieve. And then, most importantly, you have to be willing to work to achieve it."

Pamela M. McBride is a career management professional with Resource Consultants, Inc., and a freelance writer with nearly 100 nationally published articles. She is currently co-authoring a career management guide for African-American women.