For Miss Alabama 2008 Amanda Tapley music study and Samford University are family traditions. Her mother and six of her aunts and uncles attended Samford, and Amanda came to the campus as a child to take piano lessons from her grandfather, Dr. Witold W. Turkiewicz, who was on the music faculty for over forty years. Now she is the Samford student, a junior pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Music degree and using her talent to raise funds for childhood disease research as part of her Miss Alabama platform with the eventual goal of becoming a pediatric oncologist.
She had always hoped to attend Samford because of her family connection and because she wanted to study in a Christ-centered environment near her extended family of more than 30 cousins, who she says are like brothers and sisters to her. Samford also offered a unique degree program combining her love of music and medicine. "While my calling is to pursue a career in the medical field, I will always have a passion for music. It is truly a blessing to have the opportunity to prepare for medical school while furthering studies in music at Samford," she says.
A recipient of the Beeson Exceptional Scholarship to Samford, Amanda says she is grateful that her undergraduate expenses are not a burden on her family, but to earn funds for medical school, she decided to participate in scholarship pageant programs. She won the title of Miss Samford and then Miss Alabama having never before competed in pageants. "Growing up, I was a tomboy," she says. "Rough and tough and very competitive," she played football with her cousins and won state titles in tennis.
As Miss Alabama, she also competed in the Miss America pageant, placing in the top 15 finalists, and was second runner-up for the Quality of Life award. Prior to the pageant, this year's Miss America contestants were featured in a reality show on TLC called Miss America: Countdown to the Crown, in which they competed in team and individual challenges to earn one of fifteen golden sashes. Amanda was a "wildcard" golden sash winner and competed with the other sash winners in a final challenge, with the television audience choosing the winners. Amanda was one of the four "America's Choice" winners.
The Quality of Life Award is based upon community service. Amanda says that the community service aspect of the pageant was a key factor in her decision to compete. For her service platform, she chose to build on a fundraising effort for childhood disease research that she had begun in high school. In collaboration with her brother, also a musician, she had recorded a benefit CD of their favorite piano music that raised $4,000 for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. As Miss Alabama she turned this into a project called "Music for a Cure," hosting and performing at concerts benefiting St. Jude and Children's Hospital of Birmingham that brought the total funds raised to over $27,000.
Amanda credits her studies in the music department at Samford as being a tremendous help in preparing her for pageant competition and her duties as Miss Alabama. The many opportunities she has had to perform in master classes, seminars and with the Samford Orchestra as a result of the Concerto-Aria Competition have given her more confidence in her piano playing. She also lists her grandfather; her current piano teacher, Dr. Sanders; and her voice teacher, Dr. Bugg as being important influences on her musical development. The voice training has been helpful to her as Miss Alabama, she says, because she frequently makes appearances at locations where there is no piano and is asked to sing instead of play.
"Music will always be my passion. Although my calling is to pursue a career in medicine, the gift of music will continually be an integral part of my life because of the influence and enthusiasm of such wonderful faculty members at Samford University," Amanda says.
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