Participating in pageants is something multiple women do in their lifetime. Many of them start at young ages to learn life skills and build bonds through the other competitors. Senior Ellery Johnson started competing in pageants a year ago, and said it has helped her grow as a person.

“I’m very new to pageants, it’s still my first year, but I really like them so far,” Ellery said. “I really like the opportunities [they] give me, I feel like I get to tap into another side of myself I wouldn’t normally do in other circumstances.”

There are various optional competitions, such as talent, spokemodel, runway, casual wear, photogenic and red carpet. Ellery’s mom Brooke Johnson said she is proud of Ellery for performing in front of a large audience for the first time with a new talent.

“[Ellery is] putting herself out there with singing as her talent which is something that she has never done before,” Brooke said.

Ellery competed at National American Miss Kansas Teen, also known as NAM, in July and ended up winning the title. She said she was very surprised because she was not expecting to win as she originally went for fun.

“When you go into it with the right mentality, great things happen,” Ellery said. “So [winning] was really exciting. It was a little intimidating, but mostly I was just so proud of myself.”

Brooke said she is inspired by the way Ellery found the opportunity to compete in the pageants and decided it was something she wanted to pursue.

“[Ellery] won the Miss Congeniality and Best Personality Awards,” Brooke said. “That shows how good of a person she is and how she is genuine and made a bunch of friendships that she’ll hopefully have for a long time.”

As Miss Kansas Teen, Ellery has been able to spread her community service platform even further. She said she has had more opportunities to go out and volunteer, share her goal with others and help them care about it just as much as her.

“I made a community service initiative called ‘Veterans Voice,’ where I advocate and build momentum around veteran advocacy,” Ellery said. “It’s really fun, because I get to take my passion for that and share it with other people by volunteering with organizations.”

Sophomore Melanie Wheeler, Ellery’s good friend and golf teammate, said Ellery is easy to talk to. Wheeler said Ellery also gives her good advice because she is an upperclassman.

“My favorite thing about Ellery is probably how funny she is,” Wheeler said. “And Ellery is really good at bringing the best out of any situation, whether it be a bad round, a good round or just anything we’re doing together.”

Wheeler said she loves that Ellery is continuing to grow and meet new people and how it has inspired her to go outside the box and try things she never has before.

“Ellery definitely went outside of her comfort zone doing pageants and being Miss Kansas [Teen] and things like that,” Wheeler said.

Now that Ellery has competed in a few pageants, she said she understands she needs to be quick on her feet and level-minded. Ellery said participating in pageants is like a job and the winners are tasked with representing their State in a good way.

“I’ve learned that pageants are so much more than people think they are; they’re not just dresses and high heels and smiling,” Ellery said. “Honestly, so much work goes into them.”