Excuse me while I brag

[SOPi_Jawbreaker]

There's a Miss Penn State pageant. According to a Collegian article two years ago, the Miss Penn State pageant involves "competing in three categories: a presence and poise competition, in which the women wore evening gowns and were interviewed; a lifestyle and fitness competition, in which contestants wore swimsuits; and an artistic expression competition, in which they showcased their talents....The Miss Penn State Pageant is a local preliminary to the Miss Pennsylvania and Miss America Scholarship Pageants and is hosted by the Miss Penn State Scholarship Organization."

There's a Mr. Black Penn State sponsored by Zeta Phi Beta, where "judges scored the contestants on a number of categories, including a formal wear segment, talent portion and an impromptu question-and-answer session." There's a Ms. Black Penn State sponsored by Omega Psi Phi, and "each of the contestants in the pageant showcased traditional African attire and evening gowns, and they went on to compete in a talent show and question-and-answer session."

There's a Mr./Ms. Latino/a Penn State sponsored by Latino Caucus, and "contestants were judged on both their talent and their answers during a question and answer session."

There's a Mr./Ms. Asian Penn State sponsored by Lambda Phi Epsilon and alpha Kappa Delta Phi, and "the panel of judges based their decisions on the candidates' responses to the questions and essays they wrote beforehand."


Every year, there's a bunch of people complaining that since there's a Miss Penn State pageant, we don't need all the other pageants. I didn't realize that Miss Penn State is a preliminary to Miss Pennsylvania and Miss America, until I looked up the info for this post. Knowing that, I can definitely say that Ms. Black Penn State, Ms. Latina Penn State, and Ms. Asian Penn State are definitely different from Miss Penn State. For one thing, there's no swimsuit competition. For another, the questions are about issues specific to each respective community, and contestants are judged on what they've done to benefit that community (such as educating fellow students about that culture, advocating for change, combatting racism and stereotypes, and performing community service that is specific to that community).