The Miss Downey pageant has many participants, one of which is junior Cori Hayes, who has juggled honors and AP classes with the pageant for three years, and this year she plans on running for Miss Icon.
Q1: How did you first get involved with these competitions?
A2: My first year getting involved with it [pageants] was my eigth grade year. My best friend Madison wanted to do it, but obviously she didn’t want to do it alone. You know how girls are; we have to go in groups, so she made me do it with her. I didn’t think I would like it, but I actually fell in love with the whole process.
Q2: What is your favorite part of competing?
A2: That’s a hard question because there’s actually a lot. My favorite part would probably be getting to know new people. Usually, I’m not very social but through the pageant program, I’ve become more personable, and I have a lot more friends now.
Q3: What exactly is the process for competition?
A3: In January, there are sign ups and you go to an orientation. After that, you have practices every Monday where they teach you how to do everything, so everyone has a fair chance to win. The actual day of the pageant, you do interviews in the morning, and then later that evening, you go in the Downey Theatre, and they have an opening number with everyone. They have introductions, they have a business wear, a sports wear, but it’s really like a fun wear where you can do anything with props. And then after that, it’s evening wear, and depending on how many people are there, they’ll pick a top ten or top fifteen. Then they’ll do onstage questions and then they’ll give all the awards and then they announce the winner.
Q4: Does it ever interfere with your schoolwork?
A4: It does to a certain extent, but getting into it you have to realize that it’s a lot of commitment and you have to organize your time well. I’ve learned over the years that I’ve been doing this how to make time for everything.
Q5: When you first started competing, did you win or lose?
A5: I competed for three years and I lost the first two years and I finally won a spot on the court the third year. It was a long process, but it was worth the wait. The first year, I wasn’t really expecting to win since it was my first year. The second year, I messed up throughout the night, so I had realized that I wasn’t going to get it, so I was at peace with it. The third year when I won, it was kind of a haze. They gave us a DVD of the night, and I just kind of watched it with a dumbstruck look on my face. I was just at a loss for words.
