By Nia Mwangi, Staff
The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor has competitive events on campus that bring people closer together. One of these is Miss Mary-Hardin Baylor.
Miss MHB is an annual pageant that judges women on their personality, love for God, and self-confidence. Around 16 to 18 women are representing different student organizations, classes or residence halls.
Each contestant is also advocating for their own platforms for the pageant. They have interviews with the judges as well as a group dance with all of the contestants.
After this, each contestant shows off their individual talents. This year, it ranged from photography and dance to baking.
The theme for this year’s Miss MHB was The Sky’s The Limit. The outfits of the contestants at the start of the pageant along with the outfits of the hosts were inspired by the 1920’s.
The winner for this year’s Miss MHB was nursing major Sophie Stockton. “My sister was in the pageant two years ago and she got second place.” Stockton said.
“It was really cool to see how hard she worked and her experience. It genuinely forms really sweet bonds, and when I heard that from my sister, I wanted to experience that for myself.”
The contestants practiced for six weeks, everyday Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 5:30 to 9 p.m. According to Sophie, there was plenty of outside work. “At times I was thinking that I didn't really know if it was all going to be worth it,” Stockton said, “But I could talk about those worries with the other girls and they can relate to them because they were feeling the exact same way.”
For Stockton’s individual talent, she decided to create and recite a monologue about Ernest Gale Townsend, whom the library on campus was named after. “I spend a lot of time at the library because of Anatomy & Physiology. I got curious one day about what the library was named after. I looked it up and I found out that it was about a woman who had done so much for the school. I ended up talking to Beth Norvell, the assistant director of the Alumni House, who told me more about her full story and I thought, ‘Man, I would just love to let people know what their library was named after.’”
The day of the pageant arrived, the contestants were each interviewed by the judges in the morning, and at 7 p.m. the pageant began. “Backstage, everyone is super out of breath because of how quick the dance is and all the rushing around.” Stockton said. “There's not a lot of turnover time, but everyone was so helpful with zipping girls up and helping them with things. My dress was really tight and I really couldn't bend down a whole lot, so during practice and the final show, one of the girls would put my shoes on for me.”
According to Sophie, she knew that based on her speech and interview, she would be somewhere in the Top 5. “I definitely was just trying to go into it with an attitude of humility: expecting the worst and being excited for the best.” Stockton said. “I knew that whoever the judges chose would be fully equipped to handle it. There were no bad choices. In the moments before the winner was announced, it was a lot easier to think that even if Miss MHB was not me, someone else was going to steward that role so well and be so deserving of it. I was very honored to win Miss MHB.” As a part of being Miss MHB, Stockton is now advocating for her platform during her reign.
“My platform is education on vocational service opportunities.” Stockton said. “I want students to be able to find a way to merge what they're passionate about and the job they want to pursue with a way to turn that into a ministry. I want people to keep an open mind to how the Lord can use you through different careers and different vocations.”
The time commitment for Miss MHB was a sacrifice, but it was worth it in the long run. You can choose to be competitive and to see everyone as competition, or you can choose to take the opportunity to make new friends that you would never have met otherwise.
