The Miss South Carolina Teen pageant was held June 28th and the Miss South Carolina Pageant took place on June 29th. However, the journeys of pagent contestants began long before and each one goes to great lengths to prepare for a statewide stage.
Aside from the pageant night, contestants put in many hours behind the scenes in their communities. Most of the contestants’ work takes place off the stage as they give back to the communities that have helped them. And each contestant must develop a platform that exemplifies a cause she cares about within her local area.
Miss Camden Teen, Maggie Knotts, shared her passion for helping the homeless. Maggie named her platform “Hunger and Housing.” This platform allows Miss Camden Teen to connect with her community on a personal level, while bringing awareness to an issue in her city.
Miss Chesnee, Savannah Harvey, has developed her platform, “Learning Disabilities, Learning to Rise Above,” based on helping those with disabilities. Savannah has a learning disability called dyscalculia. Miss Chesnee shared that she wanted to become “a full force advocate” for those with learning disabilities after realizing the difficulties of having one of her own.
In addition to having a platform, contestants also make appearances within their communities or the state. Miss Camden Teen made 30 to 40 appearances before the Miss South Carolina Teen pageant. These appearances allow the contestants to build a relationship with their communities by doing community service and furthering their platforms. Miss Camden Teen shared that one of her favorite appearances involved making cards with her fellow contestants and giving them to a children’s hospital.
In conjunction with all of their hard work, there has been a change within the Miss South Carolina pageant. Contestants no longer have the swimsuit portion of competition. Miss Chesnee gave her thoughts on the change.
“We have replaced it with another on-stage interview of competition where we get to talk about our platforms and share more of our stories. “
Furthermore, Miss Chesnee and Miss Camden Teen will continue their platforms despite not winning the state title.
Being a contestant within the Miss America System is more than just the competitions the contestants compete in. Between platform development, changes to the program, and community appearances, these contestants make a commitment to their communities to bring service and awareness to parts of our world that needs focus. These young women have contributed a wonderful service to our state, and their work has not gone unnoticed.