This year’s Miss Teenage Central Alberta crown belongs to an Ecole H.J. Cody High School student.
Hope Cummins, 14, earned the title on Feb. 24 in Calgary after a six month process.
“It was just a really big rush of excitement… I just felt so happy,” said Cummins. “It was just really exciting because you feel like you earned that title.”
Cummins, who had never done a pageant before, said she signed up for the pageant in September 2018 and had her interview a month later.
After the interviews 30 girls from across Alberta were selected to participate in the pageant in Calgary.
At the pageant the top eight girls are selected to be finalists, with the top four getting a title.
She said her time on stage was “like a blur in five minutes.”
“It was nice, it was like a rushy nervous excitement,” Cummins said.
Leading up to the pageant in February, the contestants were asked to do charity work.
Cummins says she signed up for the pageant because it promoted charity work and giving back to the community, which she loves.
“I just kind of signed up for that and the pageant and the beauty stuff is always great,” said the model and actress.
She placed first in her grouping for most money raised for Free the Children and Cardiac Kids, the foundations chosen by the pageant.
Cummins raised the money mainly through bottle drives.
“I just went from door to door, business to business… and I just started fundraising for the charities,” added Cummins, who added she also placed first in the online voting portion.
The Grade 9 student also loves public speaking, another aspect of the pageant.
Cummins’ platform was responsible use of social media, anti-bullying, supporting other women and making them feel confident about themselves.
She says the experience boosted her confidence and gave her the opportunity to make new friends.
“They were just all positive and they were just so nice and then when I got back to school I saw stuff differently,” explained Cummins.
She said she has been the victim of bullying herself and this experience made her realize people are either “really nice or really mean.”
“I just wanted to stay on the nice side of things because I always try to be positive and lift others up,” said Cummins of how she carries herself.
Before entering the pageant, Cummins created an all female anti-bullying group at school called Working in Numbers (WIN).
With her crown she has been dong appearances and most recently helped the Girl Guides with a fashion show.
“I try to make them feel confident about themselves, I want to make sure [they know] that they are special and wanted,” explained Cummins of her message during these appearances.
She added she also promoted supporting other girls and not bringing each other down.
“I just like to make appearances and make people happy and feel good about themselves,” Cummins said.
Cummins is also a musician.
“I’m in love with music. I play piano, guitar and the drum kit,” said Cummins, adding she is a percussionist in her school band.
Miss Teenage Central Alberta 2019 is looking forward to representing her title at appearances throughout the year, but says she doesn’t see another pageant in her near future despite the great experience.
“I think I would wait until I’m 18 as an adult and just a bit more experienced, to get my braces off, just be like a better public speaker, but I’d definitely do it again,” said Cummins.
She says if anyone else in the community is interested in participating in the pageant next year she would be more than happy to guide them through the experience.
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