All she wanted was something different
By DIANE GASPER-O'BRIEN
All Kelsey Stucky wanted to do was to buy a prom dress different from her friends. A few months later, she had a $2,500 scholarship to help make a dent in her list of fee schedule at McPherson College.
Stucky was curious about a tag she found on a dress she bought at Timeless Traditions, a bridal dress shop in Ellis, in April. Stucky, then a senior at Cimarron High School, decided to check it out.
"I went online and saw they were having a scholarship contest and decided to enter it," Kelsey said of the Miss Lafee Prom USA Contest to commemorate the Jasmine line's 25th anniversary. It promised the winner a large scholarship. She filled out the form online and submitted a picture.
No one really took it that seriously, especially Kelsey's mom.
"I told her, 'We're from western Kansas; that's not going to happen,' " Celia Stucky said.
But after surviving several rounds of elimination, Stucky learned in July she was the national winner. Following a hectic few weeks that included an all-expense-paid trip to Chicago to tour the Lafee Jasmine facilities, Stucky now is trying to get settled into college at McPherson.
"It's still hard to believe," Kelsey said Tuesday night on just her second day of college. "It's all so surreal."
It all started when her older sister, Katie Small, suggested Kelsey shop at Timeless Traditions, a relatively new store that a college friend of Katie's told her about.
"Our prom theme was Hawaiian, a beach theme," Kelsey said, "and I wanted something a little bit different."
In the store, Kelsey found an aqua colored dress in just her size -- with that all-important tag attached to it.
"We told the girls about (the contest)," said Alison Dinkel, the shop owner. "But we didn't push it that hard."
Dinkel, like most everyone else, thought someone from western Kansas didn't stand a chance in such a national contest. That is, until she received notice Kelsey had made the top 10.
"There were girls on that list there from Atlanta, Massachusetts, Chicago, California," said Dinkel, naming a few of the finalists from throughout the country. "We thought it was pretty neat she was in the top 10."
Not so fast.
The final three, and ultimately the national winner, would be chosen by popular vote.
"We thought it would be a disadvantage being in a small town, not so many people," Kelsey said.
But Kelsey and her family got to work anyway. They contacted friends and family and coworkers. The local newspaper in Cimarron wrote a story about Kelsey, asking for votes.
Kelsey's dad, Doug Stucky, even had an older gentleman in town call him to offer his support.
"He said he saw it in the newspaper, and he was going (online) to vote for Kelsey," Celia said.
It worked.
"They called and said I was in the top three, but I couldn't tell anyone," said Kelsey, who decided to call Lafee a few days later to give them her cell phone number because she was planning a trip to Colorado with her family.
"The lady was like, 'I was going to call you anyway today because you're the winner,' " Kelsey said. "It didn't seem real."
But just like that, Kelsey was $2,500 richer and started planning for a trip to Chicago, along with a person of her choice, to tour Lafee and model some dresses.
Kelsey chose Katie to accompany her on the trip since she's the one who told her about the dress shop in the first place.
"We were like, 'No way!' We were just blown away," said Katie, an FHSU graduate who now works at Kansas State University in Manhattan. "We were just excited to have her in the top 10. We couldn't believe it."
Now, it's down to college life for Kelsey, who is majoring in elementary education, following in the footsteps of her mom, a second-grade teacher at Cimarron, and her oldest sister, Karody Wall, a science teacher at South Gray High School in Montezuma.
But Kelsey's celebrity role still is not over. Kelsey will appear on the cover of the 2011 Lafee Prom catalog and also will be featured in the prom edition of Seventeen Magazine. Then after the first of the year, representatives from Lafee Prom will visit Cimarron High School, where Kelsey will model this year's line of dresses.
That just might mean more business come spring for Dinkel, who said the Jasmine Bridal line she carries in her store had just come out with a prom dress line a couple of years ago.
"I sold six (prom dresses) last year and 25 this year," Dinkel said, smiling at the thought that all the attention about the contest could bring her more business come spring. "I like to carry a variety. This week, I picked up a line from Australia."
As for the Stuckys, they thought it was ironic this all happened on their youngest daughter's last high school prom.
"We have three daughters, so we've bought a lot of prom dresses," Celia said, admitting the last just might be her favorite. "This has all been a fun experience."