Faith Dazell is a junior here at Magnet and recently competed in and won the Miss Teen North Charleston pageant. The pageant is affiliated with the Miss America organization as part of Miss America’s outstanding teen competition. There is a pageant in each county and the winner of that goes to compete at the state level. Faith will compete in Columbia this summer for the title of Miss South Carolina Teen and the chance to represent South Carolina at the national pageant in Nashville, Tennessee.

In order to participate in the pageant, each girl must have a platform. Faith’s platform is a mentoring program, which is also what she will be completing for her thesis project. Upholding her platform is a part of her responsibilities as Miss Teen North Charleston. In order to keep her title she must also make appearances, maintain proper conduct on social media, keep her grades up, and partake in many community service projects around the city.
The actual pageant consists of five categories: an eight minute interview about her platform, opening number, talent (Faith performs a monologue), a short fitness routine, and lastly evening gown and onstage question. Faith believes that the interview is the best part of the whole competition.

In terms of the common misconceptions about beauty pageants, Faith thinks they could not be more wrong. She wants everyone to know that not all pageants are glitz pageants and most of them, especially the ones she competes in, are for scholarship money. She says that the girls are not as self-involved as everyone thinks and that they actually are really involved with community service in the Charleston area.

Faith decided to join the pageant circuit only about a year ago. She competed in her first one the summer between ninth and tenth grade. She said she loved watching the Miss America and Miss Universe pageants and wanted to be a part of it all. She understands that some pageants do objectify women, but that happens through all news outlets, so she doesn’t think beauty pageants are a major contribution. The skills that are learned from pageants outweigh the concerns of being objectified.