People: Jennifer Drayton

SEMINARIAN QUEEN

Some day, a member of her Lutheran congregation will say to another, did you know that our minister was Miss Michigan in 1996? Indeed, MSU senior Jennifer Drayton, who won the coveted Miss Michigan crown in June and will compete for Miss America this fall, intends to become a Lutheran Minister. 'One person asked me if I could still have fun,' says Drayton, who hopes to begin seminary school after her year's reign. 'Religion should not be limiting, it should be liberating.'

A native of Saginaw, Jennifer chose to major in musical theater at MSU because, she explains, a pastor has to do plenty of performing before an audience. At heart, however, Jennifer is a musician. She studied classical piano since age 6, and actually spent two years at the prestigious Boston Conservatory of Music before returning to MSU to complete her bachelor's degree. Her talent presentation at the Miss Michigan pageant was an innovative rendition of the third movement of Beethoven's Sonata No. 23 ('Appasionata'), which she played on acoustic piano accompanied by herself with other intruments recorded on tape. 'I got to compose a little with Beethoven,' she says. And yes, as she admits, 'I have no problem with the bathing suit competition . . . I like the pageant system because it's about self-improvement. It's not just pageant knowledge. It's life knowledge you learn. You can use it in all areas of life.'

Jennifer's win nets her a $15,000 scholarship, plus several thousand more from other sources. That should help Jennifer spread her platform about the power of commitment, which she has advocated after a high school friend's suicide. 'I wanted to tell (young people) that there isn't a self waiting to be found,' she explains. 'There's a self waiting to be created and everything they do becomes a part of that self. . . It's like a diamond--every accomplishment is like a new facet that makes it more beautiful.'