Pageant News Bureau - Katie Conkle

Some people hooked on TV reruns have been known to mistake Katie Conkle for Marlo Thomas, star of the sitcom "That Girl." But they're wrong, of course. That show was canceled more than 30 years ago, long before Ms. Conkle was even born. And Marlo Thomas, though still lovely, is old enough to be Ms. Conkle's grandmother.

OK, so now we know what Katie Conkle is not. But can you guess what she is? She's a Hawaiian Tropic girl.

"Oh, no," you're saying, "That girl? She doesn't look like the Hawaiian Tropic type at all. They have those really voluptuous bodies and those little tiny swimsuits, and she's a knockout, yes, but isn't she a little young?"

You're so smart. Katie Conkle is 16, and she's 2003 Hawaiian Tropic Georgia Teen. Note the word "teen." Her title is not about bikinis, it's about natural beauty. And she has plenty of that.

Still, trying anything with the name "Hawaiian Tropic" was a challenge for this relative newcomer to pageants. Ms. Conkle was Miss Sweet Pea 2002 (which is every bit as innocent as it sounds), and she's Miss Georgia National Teen-Ager, which is a very distinguished title. But Hawaiian Tropic provided something "outside my comfort zone."

Her "comfort zone" is the friendly corner of the South where she was born and raised. She's steeped in old-fashioned values. She attends a Christian academy, and wears a very proper schoolgirl uniform. Her family, her faith and her education are her main concerns.

But Ms. Conkle has always loved a challenge. She has helped people build houses, and she has done a remarkable amount of traveling -- from Australia to Europe to the Arctic -- as a student ambassador. In December 2003, she hopes to visit Antarctica. (She's not packing a bikini.)

She will have a busy pageant summer in 2003, and people will be talking about this girl (or "that girl," if you prefer) for a long time.

But she does look like a TV star. And come to think of it, she could be one of those grown-up Hawaiian Tropic girls if she wanted to. She's voluptuous. She just doesn't call attention to it.

Photos courtesy of Katie Conkle

K.C. – The sunshine girl