Junior Chelsi Howman takes dedication to new levels. As most other college students, Howman busies herself with schoolwork, sorority life, and a social life. But Howman has a unique hobby that occupies a hefty amount of her regular week: pageantry. 

“A week, I would say that I probably put at least ten hours into pageants,” she said. You have to be updated on all your current events, so I’m constantly watching the news, practicing my talent – talent’s the biggest portion of competition at Miss Ohio so that needs to be perfect. You have to constantly go to the gym because you have to get ready for swimsuit. Working your platform, working other areas. You have to be well-rounded because it all goes on your resume.”

After opening a letter in the mail at age ten, Howman knew pageantry was for her. Her first competition was overwhelming, she said, but she fell in love with the activity, and has benefited from the competitions.

“I signed up, I went and there was about 300 people that competed at the pageant and I made the top ten which was obviously a big confidence booster so then I just started competing every year after that,” she said. “Then I got to the point when I started looking at colleges and that kind of thing and I needed scholarship money. I knew I couldn’t afford a school like Ashland University without scholarship so the Miss America organization has provided me several thousand dollars in scholarship and that’s how I pay for school.” 

Senior Ashliegh Jarzenski also competes in pageants and said that she first got involved with the hobby after being pressured into it. She said her first pageant served as a wake up call and helped her personality bloom into what it is today. 

“During my first pageant, I actually froze up on stage during the on-stage question portion. And it was 90 seconds of grueling silence,” she said. “It was awful, but it was one of those moments where I just realized that I didn’t need to be quiet. So I started opening up and getting myself out into the community more and stuck with it.” 

Recently, Howman and Jarzenski competed in a local competition for the title of Miss Mohican Valley. With this title came a $500 scholarship from the Miss America Organization, the leading scholarship program for young women in the entire world, and a bid to the Miss Ohio competition. The winner of Miss Ohio, taking place in Mansfield in June, will then move on to compete in the Miss America competition. 

Howman placed first in this competition and said she feels very blessed to receive this title. She also said how shocked she is due to the possibility of making it far. 

“It’s kind of funny,” she said, “they say you are more likely to have a son in the Super Bowl than a daughter at the Miss America Pageant.” 

One part of pageantry is personal platforms. Each contestant is required to be involved with some organization or issue in the community. Both Jarzenski and Howman focus on issues that hit close to home and are both involved with each cause. 

“I love working with my platform,” Howman said. “Mine is ‘Stop Bullying Now; Take A Stand, Lend A Hand.’ And so what I do is go to elementary schools all throughout the area and I wrote a book and so I get to read them my book and do some fun activities with them and then just to hear the feedback from them afterwards on how much they learned… I actually had students write me letters saying, ‘I promise not to bully.’ So, it’s really rewarding and even though it’s not an actual phase of competition, I think that’s the most rewarding and my favorite part about competing.” 

Jarzenski agreed and said she chose her platform, Habitat for Humanity, because of personal reasons as well. 

“I chose Habitat for Humanity because personally I have lived in more houses than I can count on my fingers and toes,” she said. “So being able to provide that support for another family to have that stability is really important to me because I was never able to have that. So, being able to give that is what my mission is.”

Jarzenski also said that platforms benefit all of the contestants, giving them something intangible in the competition. 

“This platform has allowed for all the women to develop a voice in their communities so that’s really another important aspect of the whole pageant development process that goes with it,” she said. “And that has definitely benefited me, too, because I know that service has always been a part of my life and will continue to be so after pageants do.”

Both Howman and Jarzenski feel that working with platforms helps show the community, and others, what pageantry is all about. Both women feel that the community needs to see the inner workings of a pageant to truly understand that there is more to it. 

“People think that we just show up and get pretty and compete and then win a crown and money and then we leave,” Howman said. “But it’s so much more than that. I live my platform and I work on my phases of competition every single day. So I’m practicing talent at least an hour every single day; I’m going to school several times a year. So, there’s just so much preparation that goes into it. It’s so much deeper than the skin-deep superficial stuff that people perceive pageants to be.”

Jarzenski agreed. She said pageantry has helped her develop into who she is today and thinks the program is very beneficial. 

“I get asked a lot why it’s relevant and that kind of stuff, so why isn’t it beneficial?” she said. “You’re developing a woman who has a healthy lifestyle; she knows how to put herself together; she knows how to speak, and also, has a dedication to her hobbies and talents that will help her in the future. It’s just definitely helped me in so many various ways.”