Saved by Grace Salon & Spa ready to style community, contestants

By LYNETTE SOWELL 
Cove Leader-Press 

Bonita Roesler and business partner Julie Sweet own and operate Saved by Grace Salon and Spa in Copperas Cove, and they are ready to get the contestants of the upcoming Five Hills Scholarship Program pageant ready for the stage. 
This year, for the 9th annual pageant, the salon will be providing free hair styling services for all contestants age nine and up, as well as the current titleholders. 
Their salon has been open at its current location at CJ’s Barber Shop, located at 602 Shady Ln. since October of last year. 
However, this is Roesler’s second year in providing styling services to the pageant. In 2021, Roesler stepped in when last year’s stylist was unable to do so. 
In fact, this year’s Young Miss, Emily Kimball, had Roesler style her hair for last year’s pageant and she ended up winning her title. 
Roesler said one thing she wants the girls and women coming to her salon to feel is increased self-esteem. She has been working as a cosmetologist for three years and opened Saved by Grace Salon and Spa in October of last year. 
“What changed for me during the pandemic was when I worked by myself at a very large salon, and I spent a lot of one-on-one time with women, and my eyes were really opened to the fact that a lot of women, beautiful women, have low self-esteem,” Roesler said. “I realized that when you love on someone, and you give them all of you and pour into them, it changes their day, it changes their world, it changes how they feel about themselves.” 
In fact, Roesler said they have one rule inside their doors: no negative statements about yourself. 
“If you say something negative about yourself, you need to replace that with saying three positive things. It takes three positives to cancel it out,” said Sweet, who was in cosmetology school the same time as Roesler. 
As far as their services go, the two look at it as a ministry as well. 
“I do this because I love making people feel good about themselves, and every time I did my grandmother’s hair, it made her shine. I love making people shine,” said Sweet. “I love making people comfortable in their own skin.”
Looking ahead to the upcoming pageant day, Roesler and Sweet are excited to be providing styling services at no cost. 
Registration is ongoing now through March 1 for the annual pageant, set to take place on Saturday, March 26, at the Copperas Cove Civic Center. 
The fee is $50, and just for entering, participants ages 0-8 will receive prize packages to include gift cards and certificates for dining, attractions, local business services, and more, worth more than $250. Contestants ages nine and older will receive prize packages, make-up application, and the styling services of Saved By Grace Salon and Spa, worth at least $400. 
The pageant will award an estimated total of $100,000 in scholarships and prizes to its contestants this year. Event judges will be reigning titleholders who reside outside of Central Texas. The Miss Five Hills Scholarship Pageant is presented by Manning Homes and is an activity of the City of Copperas Cove Public Relations Department.  
In addition to competing for the titles, contestants ages nine and up will also be competing for the chance to represent a platform of service for their reign. Current and past platforms include helping the homeless and the elderly, the Copperas Cove Animal Shelter, Keep Copperas Cove Beautiful Commission, the American Heart Association, Operation Stand Down Central Texas, and more.  
The pageant description, rules, prize package listing, application, and registration link are available on the City of Copperas Cove website at www.copperascovetx.gov/pio/five_hills_pageant/.