Mayor Brian DeForge leads the Beaumont City Council celebration for Beaumont resident Chelsea Gilligan, who was crowned Miss California Teen USA in November.10:00 PM PST on Monday, December 22, 2008
By ERIN WALDNER
The Press-Enterprise
BEAUMONT - Since being crowned Miss California Teen USA, 17-year-old Chelsea Gilligan's life has been a whirlwind of activity.
She's received a proclamation from Beaumont Mayor Brian DeForge. She's attended her first red-carpet event, at a new boutique on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles. She's signed with a talent agency in Los Angeles to do commercials and print modeling.
And she's preparing for the national Miss Teen USA pageant.
"It's a crazy ride," the Beaumont teenager said.
Chelsea was crowned Miss California Teen USA Nov. 23 at the Riviera Resort & Spa in Palm Springs.
She said she vowed beforehand that if she won she wouldn't cry hysterically like other pageant winners before her.
"I totally did," she said.
The national pageant is in August and Chelsea said, "I'm so excited. I used to watch it on TV. Now I'm going to be in it."
Her pageant coach, Kristine Watson, of Newberry Springs, believes Chelsea is a strong contender for the crown.
"She's beautiful. She's taken very good care of herself. She's very strong. ... She has natural speaking abilities. I have very high hopes for her," said Watson, director of the Miss Barstow and Miss Route 66 pageants.
Chelsea said she prepared hard for the California pageant.
She said she maintained a healthy diet (for the most part) and went to the gym, practiced walking in high heels and tried to get comfortable wearing a swimsuit in public. She had her parents pepper her with questions about world events when they were in the car.
And Chelsea had a mantra.
"For the whole year I kept telling myself, 'You are Miss California Teen USA,'" she said.
A senior at Packinghouse Christian Academy in Redlands, Chelsea said she is interested in studying drama or theater at California Baptist University.
Her advice to girls who dream of wearing a crown someday: "Believe in yourself."
And on a more practical level, she said: "I would recommend they practice walking in high heels."
Reach Erin Waldner at 951-763-3473 or ewaldner@PE.com
INLAND PROFILE
CHELSEA GILLIGAN
Age: 17
Residence: Beaumont
Grade: Senior, Packinghouse Christian Academy, Redlands
Recent achievement: Crowned Miss California Teen USA on Nov. 23
What it's like wearing the crown: "It's pretty fun. You feel like a princess when you have it on."
http://www.pe.com/rss/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_E_eteen23.447e6e6.html
Prettying up the streets of Los Angeles, a handful of recent pageant winning beauties gathered together to attend the Miss Titleholders Tour at Imperial Planet on Thursday (July 2). 
