Q&A: 2018 Miss Stanton Contestant #4 Casey Peterson
DYLAN JANSON AND KYLA SAVARIAU | FEB. 22, 2018 | INTERVIEW
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, Devil’s Advocate interviewed them and got their side of the story.
DEVIL’S ADVOCATE: What does the title of Miss Stanton mean to you?
CASEY PETERSON: For me, I feel like Miss Stanton is just another way to be a leader at school. You can be a positive influence on your community, you can provide advice for younger peers or you can just be a good example.
DA: Why did you decide to run in the Miss Stanton pageant?
CP: One, I just thought it would be fun. I had never really done anything like it. I’ve always played sports, so it is definitely out of my comfort zone. I definitely feel like it will be a good memory to have from high school.
DA: How do you respond to the negative connotations of beauty pageants?
CP: I feel like especially now, it is changing because people realize that it may be a pageant where you put on this dress and walk the stage, but especially for Miss Stanton, we have to prepare a speech on this platform that we support, and we do so much other stuff other than the beauty part of it to you show that you are a well-rounded person and that you have interests other than beauty. I feel like it may be a beauty pageant, but that’s not the only thing that is involved in it.
DA: You talk about your platform. Is there a special cause that you are passionate about?
CP: Well, my platform is Mental Health Awareness. During the pageant you’ll give a two-minute speech on what you are passionate about, and mine’s basically being an advocate for Mental Health Awareness and teaching those that have mental illness and teaching those that don’t to communicate about it so it becomes a larger topic in our society.
DA: Is there any specific part of the pageant that is your favorite?
CP: I really like the Q&A, which is really weird because everybody else hates it. We practice it during our practices and everybody hates it, but it’s so on the spot and you have to be really quick on your feet, and I just really like how quick you have to be with it.
DA: Do you enjoy these types of questions and being able to put your platform out there?
CP: Yes, I am a very vocal person in general, I like sharing my opinion, so being able to do it on a wider stage is really interesting for me.
DA: What sets you apart from the other contestants that you feel that you can bring to the pageant?
CP: I feel like I’m definitely a leader. I pride myself in being able to [lead]. I’m in student government here, I lead different clubs, I’m a captain for lacrosse, I do all these other things outside of school and I’m a leader in them so I feel like I am just a well-rounded individual.
DA: How do you juggle school and responsibilities such as sports and student government?
CP: For me definitely, it’s hard. I go from Miss Stanton, to lacrosse, to home to do homework but just have to remember that these are four years of your whole life so if one thing doesn’t go well, in five years it’s not going to matter. If you have to choose between a big homework assignment and hanging out with your friends, you can do the homework assignment for a certain amount of time but don’t blow off your friends because that’s what you’re going to remember in the end.
DA: How do you think people will view you as you partake in the pageant?
CP: I feel like this is so out of the box for me. I feel like my good friends especially will be in the audience and will be surprised. It’s just not something I would normally do and also, a ton of them know how much time we’re putting into it, so I feel like people will be proud.
DA: How will you make a difference through being a part of this experience and possibly even winning the pageant?
CP: I want to continue to take a big part in school, to be able to make a difference in the school. I really enjoy that. If I won I would love to take the title of Miss Stanton and be able to work it into different volunteer activities at school and advocate for Stanton around the community.
DA: What do you think the most rewarding part of the pageant will be for you?
CP: I feel like there are two things. One is there are a ton of girls that I am meeting now that I haven’t talked to these three years and not just because we have not had the opportunity. I will have so many new friendships. At the end of [the pageant] I will definitely have more confidence from doing the whole pageant onstage in front of 300 people because it’s definitely different and fun. It will definitely be a confidence boost.
DA: Who do you consider to be your biggest role-model?
CP: It is my eighth grade English teacher, Mrs. Peterson. She was just, one, a really good teacher, and now she is more like a mentor to me. She is really involved as a teacher, but she also has a side businesses that she does, she’s a mother, she is so sweet to her son, she is a wife, she is so great to her husband, she is just like what I want to be when I grow up.