Miss Stanton 2024-2025: Preview
Lindsay Johnson & Erica Truong | March 8, 2024| Features
On March 9, Stanton College Preparatory School will hold their annual Miss Stanton Pageant with eight junior contestants. All participants have undergone extensive interviews prior to the pageant. This Saturday, they will compete in various segments: informal spirit wear, talent, questions and answers, and formal wear alongside their chosen platform. The contestant with the most points will win the highly coveted title of Miss Stanton 2024-2025.
This year’s theme is Royal Blue Heirlines where audience members can expect to be immersed in the regal flight experience as they enter the auditorium. Ms. Tangela Ennis, the student activities director, and her leadership class have diligently transformed the building into a grand first-class airport.
“When you walk in that auditorium, we want you to [feel like] you are in the SCP airport,” said Ms. Ennis, who oversees the pageant. “You are coming through TSA, and you are ready to board your Royal Heirlines flight.”
To participate in the pageant, each contestant chooses a talent to perform and a platform to advocate for. This gives them each an opportunity to exhibit their skills and focus on issues they are passionate about. In preparation for Miss Stanton, the participants have extensively researched their platform, completed weekly assignments, like creating a resume, and have been practicing for their talent segment. They have not yet seen each other’s performances, so it will be a surprise for everyone on the night of the pageant. The contestants have all chosen to enter Miss Stanton for various reasons and are eager to watch one another shine Saturday night.
Contestant No.1, Peyton Burris, decided to participate in the pageant to meet other people and improve her confidence. She wants to show that pageants are much more than a beauty contest, and that anyone, including athletes like herself, can participate in and win pageants. To highlight her athletic prowess, she is showcasing her soccer skills in the talent segment. In another segment, she will talk about her platform, which focuses on keeping the beaches clean and advocating for trash-free seas.
“We are actively polluting our oceans by eight million tons per year. My goal is to lower that and keep our [local] beaches clean,” said Burris. “I have been promoting beach cleanups and posting information about our pollution and waste and how it is affecting the sea life [on social media].”
Contestant No. 2, Auria Powell, previously entered a pageant which inspired her to partake in Miss Stanton. Powell has chosen stress induced illnesses as her platform. She has utilized her opportunity with Miss Stanton to broaden her audience and inform them about her topic. Besides her promotion of stress induced illness awareness, she plans to dance to “Freedom” by Beyoncé for the talent portion of the pageant. Throughout this process, Powell has enjoyed hanging out with the other girls and fighting for a cause she cares for.
“With Stanton being a very academically rigorous school, stress is very prevalent, [affecting] your body and your life. [It also] worsens different illnesses like depression and heart disease [which is harmful for everyone including us],” said Powell.
Contestant No. 3, Scarlett Macal, joined the pageant to have fun and meet new people, and she is excited for her family and friends to support her on the night of the pageant. Her talent is jazz dancing and has chosen domestic violence as her platform, an issue she deeply cares about.
“Domestic violence is seen as taboo and people do not know a lot of the signs because it is not talked about in schools,” said Macal. “Making it a topic of discussion makes it a lot less scary for people to come forward [or] for people to reach out to other people who they think are struggling with it.”
Contestant No. 4, Mylana Yastrebova, is not only ready to show off her capabilities on pageant night, but she sees the Miss Stanton pageant as an opportunity to grow as a person and become a bigger part of the Stanton community. She enjoys spending time with her fellow contestants and is grateful for the friendships she has built with them. She is also excited to see their talents along with showcasing her own, which is playing the piano. She hopes to have a stronger voice in speaking about her platform, which is supporting Ukrainian high school refugees, specifically those in high school.
“[I want to support] high schoolers as they adapt to this new environment in the United States,” said Yastrebova. “I volunteer at Catholic charities [which] are also known for [helping these people.]”
Contestant No. 5, Tabreya Wright, has wanted to participate in the Miss Stanton pageant since she saw it for the first time during her freshman year. She enjoys practicing being on stage while dancing and walking in her formal dress and is becoming more confident with performing. For her talent, Wright is performing American Sign Language, and her platform is on mental health awareness.
“I am planning to make resources more well-known around campus and [want to] encourage mental health practices,” said Wright. “We have Wellness Wednesday, but having an announcement or more posters around school letting people know what they can do [will be helpful].”
Contestant No. 6, Veda Kapadia, was inspired to be in the pageant by her sister, who participated in Miss Stanton two years ago. Her platform is on eradicating educational disparity so that every person has equal opportunities to achieve their goals. Kapadia hopes to become an influential figure for her fellow students and inspire them to get involved in the community. Pertaining to the pageant, she is most excited to showcase her talent, which is a Bollywood fusion dance. Dancing has been a vital part of her life which she will get to display on Saturday night.
“I am most excited to show everyone my talent. I started dancing [to Bollywood at] three years old and when I was 10, I [learned] other styles like ballet and jazz,” said Kapadia. “It is important [to me] because I am very proud of my culture and [my talent will embody] all the dances I have learned throughout my life.”
Contestant No. 7, Same Jean, has entered the Miss Stanton pageant to become a role model for other students in Stanton and to shed light on the vaping epidemic. She hopes Miss Stanton will give her a platform to advocate against the rising numbers of teens smoking. Additionally, Jean will be singing in both English and French to showcase her talent. Her chosen songs are “My Way” by Ava Max and “Dernière Danse” by Indila.
“I think [becoming Miss Stanton] would be a great way to serve as a role model for students [and] to address the issue [of teens smoking],” said Jean. “I would like to bring awareness to it because, especially in Florida, [there is] a growing number of teens [who] are vaping because [of their peers].”
Contestant No. 8, Mileah Caldeo, joined this pageant in hopes of positively influencing all students and becoming a representative of Stanton. She has enjoyed spending time with the other girls in preparation for this pageant and hopes to see all their hard work and ambition pay off. Caldeo’s talent will be performing traditional Vietnamese fan dancing, and her platform focuses on celebrating diversity through competence, which she believes is important even beyond Stanton’s vast student population.
“I decided to do Miss Stanton because I wanted to make a difference in the school and to be an example for other [students] around me,” said Caldeo. “My platform is all about celebrating cultural diversity through competence and I believe that [if we work] together as a community, we can create a safe and welcoming environment for everyone to express their differences.”
One of these eight contestants will become the next Miss Stanton and take on the title's responsibilities, including spreading their platform, representing the school, and competing in the Miss Senior High pageant. Although Miss Stanton 2023-2024, Vikas Sankar, is passing on the crown, she treasures the experience she had on Stanton’s Royal Court. Sankar broke barriers by becoming the first Indian American to win Miss Stanton. Her platform focused on creating inclusivity in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematic fields, something she values as she has volunteered at various robotics organizations over the past year. She cherishes the voice that she had because of her position as Miss Stanton and wishes well for the next generation of contestants.
“To the girls competing now, I would just say to remain very confident because this pageant helps you so much with personal growth and gaining so much self-confidence,” said Sankar. “Even if you walk away without a crown, I think this opportunity is so special and you should always cherish it.”
Along with the experience of being in the pageant, Miss Stanton 2024-2025 will receive a scholarship for college, a Herff Jones ring, a parking spot in the senior lot, a crown and sash, and a few smaller items. The Miss Stanton Pageant will be held in the Stanton auditorium on March 9 at 6 p.m.