New Miss Poway crowned Saturday

Three new young women were crowned on Saturday at the 54th annual Miss Poway Scholarship Pageant.

Wearing the crowns for the next year will be Lauren Roberts, 17, a senior at Westview High School; Ann Wang, 15, a sophomore at Del Norte High School; and Soliana Perez, 12, a seventh grader at Twin Peaks Middle School.

The three are all newcomers to pageants, something they discovered while riding together in a limo to the pageant after-party at Kaminski’s Sports Bar and Barbecue, said Perez.

The pageant had a crowd of about 400 people cheering on the competing girls, said Sharon Gruber, pageant director.

Roberts, Wang and Perez replace outgoing queens Stacy Walden, Jackie Petescia and Evelyne Eng, who were honored at the pageant.

All three young women said they were shocked at winning. “I was absolutely shocked. I couldn’t breathe. I felt every emotion,” said Perez.

Wang said she didn’t think she’d had a shot at winning. “When they announced the third princess, I thought, there goes my only chance at winning. When they said I had won, my jaw dropped. I was really shocked, I didn’t know what to do.”

Roberts said that while she was shocked, winning was “an honor” and has already been an incredible experience.

Each queen has a court of two or three princesses who will serve alongside them at events during their reign.

The Miss Poway princesses are Dakota Lake Nank and Madison Culp; the Miss Teen Poway princesses are Arella Hill, Astha Rajyaguru and Hannah Nelson; and the Miss Junior Teen Poway princesses are Jenna Oppel and McKenzie Elliot.

The queens have already attended their first event, paying a visit to the Spring Family Festival in Poway on Sunday, where they drew the attention of many little girls who wanted to see their tiaras, they said.

“It was incredible,” said Roberts. “The little kids were looking up at us in admiration. The tiara is almost a way to connect with them. I don’t usually get an opportunity to talk with kids, but with a tiara you can.”

Wang said she enjoyed taking pictures with the kids at the fair. “It was amazing, being a role model to so many people in Poway.”

The queens aren’t sure exactly what events they will attend over the next year, but said there were several they had heard about and would like to attend, including the 9/11 stair climb, a tea party to benefit Rady Children’s Hospital, and the Poway Fourth of July event.

Roberts said she’d even like to create her own event. As a long-time volunteer at the Salvation Army, she said she’d like her fellow queens and court to come volunteer with her. “I’d like them to meet the people I’ve been volunteering with for the past few years. (The Salvation Army) is very important to me,” said Roberts.