Contestant 2: Heavyn Doxey

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (SCPDA): With the Miss Stanton pageant around the corner, the pressure is on for all the young women who are participating to represent Stanton. To understand their hopes for the pageant and what they have taken away from it, the Devil’s Advocate interviewed the contestants and got their side of the story.

DEVIL’S ADVOCATE: Why did you decide to participate in Miss Stanton?
HEAVYN DOXEY:  I’m big on outreach, I want to go into the community, especially the community surrounding Stanton, which is primarily African American, and being an African American I want to use the title of Miss Stanton to go out into our community and just tell other students who think that they can’t come here or think that it’s too hard that they can do it. Whether they wanna do a varsity sport, or be in clubs or activities, or they just wanna go to the best school in Florida, I want to reach out and tell them they can do it, and I want to be the person who puts that responsibility on myself.

DA: What does the title of Miss Stanton mean to you?
HD: As you know, Stanton is super difficult. For me to win Miss Stanton, it would mean that all the hard work I put into school every single day was worth it. I know we think it’s worth it when we get the degree, when we get all the IB stuff and the credits, but, for me doing Miss Stanton means that not only was I academically prepared, but the way that I express myself and the way that I care for other people, all that stuff that I love about myself would influence other people, and that would mean so much to me.

DA: Who’s one of your prominent role models and why?
HD: I’ve never had a celebrity role model, but for me, my biggest role model is the person I see every day, my dad. I absolutely love the man he’s had so many jobs and so many business opportunities just to keep our family afloat, and to provide for us and keep us going. He’s always trying to be one step ahead to provide for his family. The love and the courage and the effort that he puts in and shows to us, that’s the person I want to be for my family when I grow up.

DA: Is there any particular moment that inspired you to participate in the pageant?
HD: Definitely, the very first Miss Stanton pageant that I’d ever seen, which was in my freshman year. There was something about seeing the girls on stage, the confidence I saw in them. I was a freshman at Stanton College Prep with happy friends, but I wasn’t confident in who I was back then. Seeing them on stage, knowing that they were beautiful and that they did all this work was incredible to me. When I saw that, I said “hey! I can do this, I can go up there and know who I am and have that confidence and self esteem, and showcase who I am to other people.” And it was in that moment when I realized that I didn’t have to think of myself as just another person in the crowd, but I could be much more.

DA: How do you respond to the negative stereotypes associated with pageants?
HD: Stanton’s pageant is not the competitive, hard-core with the coaches screaming at you kind of pageant. I enjoy going to practice. I enjoy hanging out with friends and eating and just hanging out and having fun. When I think about other pageants it kind of saddens me, because I had my first and probably only experience with a pageant and it was awesome. So when I hear the negative stereotypes about pageants I get really sad about it honestly. I just want people to know that it’s not the Stanton way, and I think Mrs. G really did a good job of constructing it, because we don’t have private coaches and people aren’t going around stabbing each other in the back. We work together and help each other, and that cooperativeness is great.

DA: What are some of your goals for the future, both short and long term?
HD: For short term, by the end of high school, I want to pass all my AP’s with 4’s or 5’s, I want to pass my IB’s and get that IB diploma, probably attend Miami that’d be a great school to go to. Thinking of long term, after I graduate from Miami, it would be amazing to take a year off and travel. Not too long, I don’t want to forget everything I learned, but travel, come back to the United States, and do what I’ve always wanted to do which is to become a doctor. I want to be an ophthalmologist, which is an eye surgeon, I see that it’s a great news and our society today, and I’m gonna do that, help people. It’s cliche to say I want to be a doctor but I do, it’d be an amazing opportunity for me.

DA: How do you plan to juggle your schoolwork with your responsibilities?
HD: With the help of others. In the IB induction they told us “you guys are gonna need each other, no joke.” And i couldn’t do it without the help of other people. My parents, sister, my friends, I need people to help me out, because it’s a lot, when you toss it all up in the air, it’s hard to catch it all, but I’m trying my best to stay organized. If I become Miss Stanton, I’ll keep doing the same thing, and I’ll probably reduce the amount of clubs and activities I do, but I just have to remember that I have to do what’s best for me. I can’t just be the person people expect me to be, I don’t have to. I have to remember what will keep me the least stressed in the end, and what will be the best for my future.

DA: What are some of your good qualities?
HD: My top two I would say are giving and compassionate. I have to give, I can’t always be on the receiving end of things. I love making people happy, whether it’s baking and making people food or giving them help with this or that, I always have to be giving with people, and it’s kind of a downfall when you become broke after a few months but I think that it’s great. And being compassionate, just showing love to people, especially here at Stanton, we can get pretty stressed out and upset so easily. People will crumble and I just want to be that person people can depend on. I guess I can say that one of my qualities is being dependable, I want people to know that when you have me as a friend, that’s it, you want me as a friend, there’s no turning back, I’m not leaving. So my best qualities are being giving, compassionate and dependable.

DA: What’s a cause that you’re passionate about?
HD: In my speech I’m going to be talking about natural beauty because I’m a big promoter and advocate for people just loving who they are, waking up in the morning and loving who you are and not wanting to change anything. That’s one thing I’m very passionate about. You know how there are a lot of things in the world you wish you could change? I just want people to love who they are for one, and then education, hunger and homelessness, there’s so many things I could talk about, but right next to natural beauty I would say fighting against prejudice is something I’m really passionate about. It’s so frustrating, and even being Christian and black and female is pretty much one of the worst combinations in America right now, but I honestly just want people to not only love themselves but to love other people. I want that to be emphasized. I want our generation to be the one that puts all the racism and sexism aside and just love each other.

DA: How will you use the title of Miss Stanton to make a difference?
HD: The title of Miss Stanton will definitely put a lot of responsibility on me. With that responsibility comes great power, but also knowing that I got to step it up. I can’t think that no one is watching. People are always watching you. You might think that you can go throughout your life freely and doing as you please, but for me the title will mean stepping up my game. When I go out into the community I’ll know that I have to be responsible, and I want to teach others how to be responsible, how to be leaders and how to just go into the community and be active in outreach. To teach people to be what they want, that’s what I would do.