Southeast junior won a lot of hearts

Junior Jessica Amaya didn't win the Miss Southeast pageant Thursday night.

Yet she showed me something that surpassed much of what I saw on stage at the Ed Nock Auditorium.

During the talent portion of the pageant, other contestants danced or sang or even did a sophisticated gymnastics tumbling routine.

Which is what the event winner, Scarlett Davis, did.

Yet as entertaining as it was, what Jessica Amaya did was better for different reasons.

It showed us her humanity in a uniquely creative way.

With a framed painting of a man in bandages with a Red Cross nurse as a prop, the Southeast junior spoke as if she was that man while trapped under rubble after the Jan. 12 earthquake that devastated Haiti.

Jessica's monologue was powerful.

It was gripping and moving.

A hush fell over the auditorium.

Jessica Amaya didn't win Miss Southeast.

She gave us a glimpse into her soul and won a lot of hearts Thursday night, instead.