Former Miss America and motivational speaker found inspiration at OU

by Brynn Burton

Being Miss America isn't always about the instant fame, fortune, glitz and glamour that the audience sees on television.

Laurel Schaefer, Miss America 1971, faced much adversity, but overcame her challenges to make a contribution to women's empowerment movement and help her alma mater. She attended Ohio University from 1967 to 1971 as a theater arts major and received a bachelor of fine arts degree in 1971.

She has many other credits besides the Miss America honors to her name. Schaefer is now the CEO of the Women's Leadership Foundation, which provides educational scholarships and seminars for young women hoping to become leaders in their fields.

Having been a victim of spousal abuse, she serves on the Zonta International Committee for Strategies to Eliminate Violence Against Women.

"I have had 30 years of supporting myself, I own a beautiful home and I still have some really big dreams left in me," she said

Though she lives in Burbank, Calif., now, her work began in Bexley, Ohio, as she was growing up. Schaefer started training to be a performer when she was 10, taking theater classes on Saturdays. Her pageant career started her freshman year at OU when she competed in the Miss Southern Ohio pageant in Pomeroy.

"I was horrible," she said. "I wore a prom dress because I wasn't asked to my prom. I didn't think that I did well at all. I won, but I couldn't believe it."

Schaefer won the Miss Ohio title in June 1971 after competing in the pageant three times. She went on to win Miss America in September 1971.

"The Miss America pageant is very unique in that it is still the only one to contribute to women's scholarships," Schaefer said. "It was the first job I had after graduation."

Schaefer was Miss America at a time when pageants were considered degrading to women. She said she wanted to change the negativity and encouraged the discussion of issues, especially the Vietnam War. She also wanted to remove Miss America from the imaginary pedestal and show that the title means more than riding on a float.

"I was at OU during turbulent times," Schaefer said. "In the spring of 1969, there was so much civil unrest and all this activity reached the campus."

She often was heckled and jeered at for being in a sorority and not being an activist.

Because of protests, Schaefer was advised not to return to OU for a scholarship presentation. But she came anyway after talking to her mother.

"The booing that I expected to receive turned into cheers and a standing ovation," said Schaefer. "It changed my life. It was a hallmark moment."

Schaefer said she has much faith in OU and feels that the university has had a profound effect on her life.

"I sacrificed so many things for the pageants when I was at school," Schaefer said. "But the School of Theater never gave up on me and always encouraged me to follow my dreams."

Schaefer credits current Interim Director of the School of Film Robert Winters with encouraging her when she was a student.

"She (Schaefer) was a very pleasant and committed student," Winters said. "She was heavily committed to musical theater even though there wasn't an actual school for it. She was hard working."

Winters said he thinks Schaefer is a great advertisement for scholarships in the theater school.

Schaefer has contributed to OU in the form of scholarships for the theater arts department and for her sorority. She also has helped raise $21 million for the Bicentennial Campaign.

She recently met with OU President Robert Glidden and has had dinner with former President Vernon Alden, who held that post when she was at the university.

"I recently saw Laurel Schaefer at an alumni/Bicentennial Campaign event in Los Angeles," Glidden said in an e-mail message. "She's a lovely person with fond memories of her student days at Ohio University, and I'm gratified that her commitment to the university continues."