Miss Poway titles will be awarded at April 4 pageant

It’s almost time to put on those sparkly gowns and compete for three Miss Poway pageant titles.

The pageant, now in its 54th year, will feature 30 girls ranging from age 12 to 24 competing for one of three titles: Miss Junior Teen Poway for ages 12 to 14; Miss Teen Poway for ages 15 to 16; and Miss Poway for ages 17 to 24.

The winners will be awarded scholarships. They will also spend the next year appearing at events and doing volunteer work.

The pageant will begin at 4 p.m. Saturday, April 4 at the Poway Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets are $10 and will be available at the door in limited quantities. Tickets are also available to reserve in advance by emailing tickets.misspoway@gmail.com. The pageant sells out every year, so get your tickets early.

This year, the pageant is being sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Poway, after several years of being sponsored by the Poway Lions Club. Sharon Gruber, the pageant director, joined the Kiwanis Club earlier this year and said that the club readily agreed to sponsor the pageant.

This is the second year that the pageant has featured three age categories, something prompted last year by the large amount of contestants. The new age groups are also more fair, said Gruber, by no longer having 13-year-olds compete with 16-year-olds. “It’s not beneficial to the younger girls to compete with the older girls,” said Gruber. “This levels the playing field.”

The 30 young women have spent the eight weeks leading up to the pageant learning everything from public speaking to how to properly dress for a job interview, as well as social media coaching, learning poise, having their photos professionally taken by Lisa K Photography and volunteering in the community.

At the pageant itself, the girls will be judged on their answers in a private interview with the judges, on their answers in the public “getting to know you” session, the gown competition and an impromptu question and answer session. The private interview is worth the most points and the gown competition is worth the least.

Poway City Councilman Jim Cunningham will return as the pageant’s emcee, and members of the Westview High School NJROTC and ROTC members from USD and SDSU will escort the competitors during the gown competition.

For entertainment, Gruber said the boy band “Tower 3,” who are based out of Oceanside, will be performing, to go along with the pageant’s musical theme of boy bands and teen heartthrobs.

The pageant will also give the outgoing queens, Kayla Hoppe, Estephannia Colon and Carley Matz, a chance to give farewell speeches and say goodbye to their titles.

Gruber said that the goal of the pageant is to have the girls become strong, confident, civic-minded young ladies. “We changed the focus of the pageant from the night of the pageant to the weeks leading up to it,” said Gruber. “They learn how to dress for a job interview, self-defense, public speaking and volunteer. I want the girls to walk away with some sort of change that will effect their future. That’s why I do it.”