By Rick Madewell
Assistant Editor

A St. Cloud girl has been chosen to compete on the international level in a talent contest that has been around for 40 years.

Mary Kathryn Chambers, 15, daughter of Bob and Joy Chambers, will perform a dance routine in Bermuda when the Hal Jackson’s Miss Talented Teen International competition takes the stage at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Fairmont Southampton Hotel Mid-Ocean Amphitheater. Preliminary competition the night before will determine the 10 finalists.

The event will be televised and streamed live over the Internet.

Mary Kathryn is a dancer and there are five other dancers in the competition. Most of the other contestants listed their talents as singers or actresses.

The contest awards scholarships to young ladies 13 to 17 years old to assist them with their college educations. The program is open to all ethnic groups with an emphasis on diversity and intercultural awareness to foster and develop leadership skills and artistic talents.

If Mary Kathryn wins the competition, she will be awarded a $6,250 scholarship to the college of her choice and, if she meets certain qualifications, she could win a full, four-year scholarship.

Mary Kathryn is looking forward to all that comes with the competition.

“My dance teacher actually forwarded me the information about the competition, telling me it would be a great performance opportunity,” she said. “I also knew that it would be a great way to meet new people, better my public speaking abilities and potentially receive college scholarship funding.”

The teen, who will be accompanied by the competition’s Florida director, Dawn Branch, said she would probably attend either Belhaven University in Jackson, Miss., or Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, for their dance programs, whether she should be fortunate to win scholarship money or not.

Mary Kathryn is currently studying ballet, pointe and modern dance and will be performing a ballet en pointe for the talent competition, with the 2nd Shade Variation from the ballet "La Bayadere."

Her family and friends are all very excited about her quest.

“They are wonderful and have supported me so much throughout this entire process,” Mary Kathryn said.

The teen has seven older brothers cheering her on. She is a home-schooled 10th-grader. She actively serves in her church, preparing worship through dance for church services and events and she attends and helps host a weekly Bible study for teens in the community. Mary Kathryn also finds time to provide childcare for MOPS, a Mothers of Preschoolers group, and to raise money for the local JMJ Life Center in St. Cloud, a crisis pregnancy center for expectant moms in crisis situations.

The teen also has served with World Changers, a national mission group that does construction in cities around the country. She has also trained with the TeenPact Leadership School in Tallahassee.

Although she will be up against some tough competition, the teen has plenty of confidence in her abilities and believes she will do well.

“I definitely think that I have something unique to bring to the table since not many contestants are classical pointe dancers,” she said. “I know that there will be other amazing contestants, and the competition will be stiff. I will have to work very hard, but I do believe I have a great shot at winning.”

Mary Kathryn said her parents are thrilled that she has the opportunity to be able to use her talents in a way to further her opportunities to dance in the future and to encourage other people to excel with their God-given talent.

The Hal Jackson Talented Teens International Scholarship Program, which highlights the intelligence, creativity and talents of young women 13-17 years old, was founded by Harold “Hal” Jackson 40 years ago. Jackson, a popular radio and television personality, is well respected in the communications industry.