Pageant News Bureau - America's Perfect Teen 2000

P a g e a n t N e w s B u r e a u

America's Politest Queen

Pageant photos courtesy
of Carvern Productions, personal photos
courtesy of Sarah MacInnis

After Sarah MacInnis was crowned America's Perfect Teen 2000, she hurried to make a phone call . . . to the director of another pageant.

And the 16-year-old South Carolinian didn't call to brag, she called to apologize.

"I had to tell her I was sorry, but I wouldn't be in the state pageant" of the other system, Ms. MacInnis says. "I wanted to tell her as soon as possible. She's a very nice lady."

Laurie Byers, as the last act of her reign, places the crown on Sarah MacInnis on July 15, 2000, in Orlando, Fla.

That's Sarah MacInnis. After winning a national beauty title, and becoming the envy of teenage girls around the nation, she was thinking of more than her own good fortune. She was concerned about inconveniencing somebody else.

To be America's Perfect Teen requires a blend of beauty, poise, achievement and character. Beauty and poise are easy to recognize, and achievement is fairly easy to document. Character is harder to define, but sometimes it's easy to detect. And it's obvious in Sarah MacInnis.

She's the South Carolina secretary of the Future Business Leaders of America. She's active in the Beta Club, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the National Honor Society. She plays basketball and tennis. But when you ask her what she likes most about high school, she says, "my friends."

Still, she's not just a dewy-eyed schoolgirl. She's bold and independent-minded. She got into pageant competition because she likes to travel, and she admits, "I never get homesick." She lists confidence as one of her major assets. Someday she plans to own her own company.

The perfect court (L-R) Elizabeth Peter of Alabama, first runner-up; Sarah MacInnis of South Carolina, America's Perfect Teen 2000; Deborah Lammon of Kansas, second runner-up; Clark Sarullo of Cobb County, third runner-up; Alicia Frazette of Freehold, fourth runner-up.

Sarah MacInnis with her parents, Rob and Annette

With all that we know about Ms. MacInnis, we would have admired her even if we had never seen her. And anyone who has seen her would admire her even if they knew nothing about her. She talks the talk, she walks the walk, she glows.

That's perfect enough for us.