<p>Contestants in one Georgia high school beauty pageant are proving that being white, blonde or even thin is not necessary to win.</p><p>The Miss Meadowcreek pageant is unlike the other high school contests in Gwinnett County, whose pageant pedigree is legendary.</p><p>The pageant has a mere 18 contestants this year _ five girls competed for Miss Freshman and 13 for Miss Meadowcreek _ compared with nearly 100 at other Gwinnett high schools. There is no big prize or the usual college scholarship money.</p><p>And no blondes. The contestants' parents hail from the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Nigeria, Panama, Puerto Rico and Vietnam. Many are African-American.</p><p>Katreina Saliu, one of the heaviest girls in the 10th grade at Meadowcreek High, volunteered to go first in a rehearsal last month. Walking to the front of the auditorium, she faced the girls seated in the front rows.</p><p>"Isn't she lovely?" the girls shouted, echoing the Stevie Wonder song and theme for the 2005 Miss Meadowcreek Pageant.</p><p>"Yes, I am," boomed Katreina, her eyes glowing as they met those of the mostly slim and muscular contestants, cheerleaders and athletes wearing tank tops and tight-fitting Baby Girl shirts.</p><p>"I feel like big girls can do the same things you can," Katreina said. "I feel like I can boost the confidence of a lot of girls who are plus-sized."</p><p>Miss Meadowcreek nearly was the first pageant in Gwinnett to die.</p><p>The couple that has run Miss Meadowcreek since the school opened in 1986 said they were stepping aside in this, the pageant's 19th year. There was no obvious successor to grab the torch.</p><p>But first-year board member Josefina Romo and several others were determined. It's one thing to end the crownings because students lose interest. The PTSA board, which sponsors the pageant, unanimously approved to keep it going.</p><p>When she moved across I-85 to Meadowcreek last year, her former classmates at Norcross High last year heckled her.</p><p>"They said, 'Yo, that's Ghetto- creek,'" Katreina said. " `Yo, that's the reject school.'"</p><p>But that didn't deter her. An A student who has left her mark on several Gwinnett schools, Katreina is an old pro at converting negative energy into crowning achievements. And the Miss Meadowcreek Pageant is showing that the diverse Norcross school that outsiders call "Ghettocreek" is learning to do the same.</p><p>Katreina wasn't the only one with something to prove.</p><p>Gwen Lewis, a junior, said she wanted to be part of a special night at Meadowcreek, an elegant evening that would take some of the sting out the school's reputation.</p><p>"Everywhere you go, you hear about Ghettocreek," she said. "It's really not true."</p><p>Nearly every one of the contestants ended on that same defiant note, the one that bound them together as they rehearsed that day. They wanted to demonstrate that Meadowcreek has grace and poise, too.</p><p>Meadowcreek sits amid the apartment complexes and aging subdivisions between Norcross and Lilburn. More than half the students receive free or reduced-price lunch.</p><p>It is among the most diverse high schools in Georgia _ 37 percent Hispanic, 33 percent black, 17 percent Asian and 13 percent white.</p><p>___</p><p>HASH(0x286585c)</p>
