Some students traveled to the beach, visited relatives or worked at jobs over spring break.

Erin O’Kelley, a junior in communication, flew to Los Angeles, Calif., to begin rehearsals for the Miss USA pageant.

O’Kelley will represent North Carolina among 51 contestants on the annual, live television broadcast of the competition March 23 on the National Broadcasting Channel.

She will participate in evening gown, swimsuit and interview competitions. A designated panel of judges will evaluate each component and collectively decide the winner.

Also, during the three-week rehearsal period in L.A., a number of anonymous judges will be taking notes on the contestants’s behaviors and will conduct private interviews of each contestant. Both reviews will be added to the decision process to determine the winner, according to O’Kelley.

The Miss USA pageant Web site stated that it crowned its first winner in 1952.

Miss USA is part of the larger association, the Miss Universe Organization, which is a partnership between NBC and Donald J. Trump, CEO of the real estate business called the Trump Organization.

Chelsea Cooley of Charlotte, N.C., was crowned Miss USA in 2005, according to the pageant’s Web site.

The NCSU Bookstores donated 51 baseball hats for O’Kelley to bring as gifts to each of this year’s contestants.

“[O’Kelley] wants to promote the University because she is a proud NCSU student,” Richard Hayes, director of NCSU Bookstores, said. “Anytime the University can be promoted in a positive way, I am all for it.”

O’Kelley said she “loves ACC schools” and felt everyone at NCSU is friendly and “really down to earth.”

O’Kelley said she is not taking courses this semester, so she can concentrate on her responsibilities of Miss N.C. and prepare for the Miss USA pageant, but she continues to live in Raleigh.

She said she studied abroad in France last year and has been a member of the dean’s list every semester.

She was also very involved in the First Year College program, O’Kelly said, and was chosen as the freshman representative of the program her first year. She said she enjoyed the opportunity to speak with other students around the University.

O’Kelley said Miss USA is her fourth pageant. In 2001, she was crowned Miss Teen N.C. as a freshman in high school. As Miss Teen N.C., she represented N.C. in the Miss Teen USA pageant, a sister pageant in the Miss Universe Organization.

“It got me hooked,” O’Kelley said, “I was so lucky to have won.”

O’Kelley said she felt her natural talent and comfort on stage helped her win in past pageants.

She said she makes the pageant’s interviews “more of a conversation instead of a question-and-answer.”

Megan Pellerin, O’Kelley’s roommate and a junior in animal science, said O’Kelley is always easy to talk to and approachable.

O’Kelley said she wants to incorporate her talents in public speaking in a future career.

“My dream job is to be a talk show host,” O’Kelley said.

Robin Ratchford, a junior in communication and another roommate of O’Kelley, said she felt O’Kelley is humble about her achievements.

“She’s proud to be Miss N.C. and former Miss N.C. Teen, but she doesn’t go around and flaunt it,” Ratchford said.

O’Kelley is looking at the Miss USA pageant as a way to have fun and gain experience, according to Ratchford.

If O’Kelley wins the title of Miss USA, she will move to an apartment in the Trump Towers in New York City during her tenure as Miss USA. She will travel across the country concentrating on raising money and awareness for breast and ovarian cancer, according to O’Kelley.