Miss America Visits UCSF Children's Hospital

Miss America 2006 Jennifer Berry read a story, visited patients, signed autographs and showed her crown to hospitalized children at UCSF on Tuesday. See video here. Berry, a resident of Tulsa, Oklahoma, spent about an hour and a half at UCSF Children's Hospital chatting and taking photos with kids and their parents. She even let a couple of children's hospital staff try on her rhinestone-covered crown, which she keeps in a wooden box emblazoned with a brass plate marked Miss America 2006. "This box doubles as a weight for bicep curls when I'm on the road," Berry quipped. Crowned as Miss America in January, Berry spends most of her time traveling the country with a small entourage on a whirlwind tour of special appearances. Her schedule is so busy that it's understandable that Berry can forget what day of week it is and give in to an occasional yawn in between stops, smiles and speeches. Nevertheless, Berry exuded the luster of a beauty queen and the laughter and light-hearted demeanor of a 22-year-old who is having the time of her life. She connected with hospitalized kids, sharing her love for junk food, from pizza to french fries. Berry also helped a couple of children with their homework before reading a book in the hospital's schoolroom. Teaching is a lifelong desire, says Berry, who is majoring in elementary education at the University of Oklahoma and aspires to become a second-grade teacher.

Miss America 2006 Jennifer Berry reads a book at UCSF Children's Hospital. Photos by Lisa Cisneros.

In reading David Shannon's children's book, A Bad Case of Stripes, in which the main character Camilla wakes up to find that her skin is covered in colorful stripes, she paused for effect and emphasis as the children looked at the pictures. In the end, Camilla discovers that by being true to herself - specifically admitting to her peers that she likes lima beans - she is cured from what ailed her. Berry helped drive that point home with the kids, most of whom showed their appreciation for this substitute teacher. "The best part about being Miss America is the numerous opportunities you are given to be able to do things like this and to impact people's lives in ways you can never imagine," Berry says. Berry hopes to make a difference by tackling drunk driving and underage drinking, which is an issue she is focusing on with Mothers Against Drunk Driving. "One third of traffic deaths among 15- to 20-year-olds involve alcohol," she says. "The problem commands a new level of intolerance. My goal as Miss America 2006 will be to use my opportunities for awareness and education to build that intolerance. The fact is drunk driving is 100 percent preventable, yet remains a plague of human behavior that we as a society continue to tolerate." Berry was touring the San Francisco Bay Area for a couple of days before heading south to Los Angeles. Later in the day, she was to debut a new line of perfume, Pageantry, the fragrance inspired by none other than Miss America.