Emily Mahana walked into the pageant room in Corning earlier this month and immediately felt out of her element.

“I just walked in and I didn’t know what I was doing, I was an outsider,” she said. “I texted my mom when I got there and I was like, ‘Mom, I don’t know what I’m doing. Maybe this was a mistake.’”

Mahana left that room with a crown and the title of Miss Upstate New York.

Although it was her first pageant, she emerged victorious. Mahana, a senior civil engineering major at Syracuse University, had always wanted to enter a pageant, but until this year it had only been an aspiration. During the summer, she saw a pageant taking place at an apple festival near her hometown of Cicero. She saw that as a sign, and began her research.

By October, Mahana was officially entered into the pageant, but school remained her priority. She didn’t begin to prepare until after finals week, leaving just three weeks for her to dive into pageant life before her first major competition. She had three sessions with a coach from Fit to Reign, a pageant coaching agency in Syracuse, in which she learned to walk and pose.

SU students have a history of success in the pageant: Allie Curtis, former Student Association president, held the title of Miss Upstate New York in 2013. She was unable to attend this year’s pageant because she is in basic training for the reserves, according to a press release sent by Kate Symons, a Miss Finger Lakes Volunteer. Lorna Rose, SU alumna and former Miss Finger Lakes 2009, hosted the event, per the release.

The composition was broken down into five sections: a one-on-one interview with a 5-judge panel, an opening number dance routine, swimsuit, talent and evening gown.

Mahana has been practicing Irish dance for 14 years, so she was confident in the talent portion. She performed a soft-shoe step dance to a unique rendition of Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” for that part of the competition, according to the release.

But evening gown was a section she was nervous for.

“I really wanted to not look like I was a beginner,” Mahana said. “But watching back the video they took, I was really proud of myself. I think I did a really good job for it being my first one, so that was the most exciting part for me.”

Holding the title of Miss Upstate New York means that Mahana will be making appearances at various community events throughout the region, with her first being at the SU women’s basketball game this Sunday.

She hopes to use her crown to inspire young girls to participate in the STEM field. In her path to becoming an engineer, Mahana said she saw a lack of female role models in the field. She feels that if more young girls and women advocate for it, there may be an increase in female involvement in the field.

“I’m excited to get involved with Girl Scout troops and elementary and middle school kids to speak to them and show them what I am doing as a student and what possibilities are out there if they decide to stick with their math and science courses,” she said. “It’s cool to learn math and science. It’s cool to be nerdy.”

After graduating in May, Mahana will either enter graduate school to pursue a master’s degree in structural engineering, or take a job offer at an engineering consulting firm in Liverpool. Her pageant win has left her self-assured for the future.

“The fact that I kind of just stepped into this without really knowing what was going on and won the title, it’s given me a huge sense of confidence in what I can do moving forward,” she said.

Now, she is working to improve her time-management skills as she balances school work with the demands of being a pageant queen. She’s already begun training for the Miss New York pageant, to be held in Buffalo in June.

Mahana is keeping up with the news more intently, and likes to listen to NPR podcasts to prepare her for interviews with judges. She’s also using a personal trainer to get in shape for the pageant and is meeting with previous regional pageant winners for some advice on pageants and life itself.

“I have met so many people in the pageant industry here in the region that have really taught me so much about not only the pageant system, but what it means to be a successful woman,” she said.

If Mahana wins the title of Miss New York, she’ll advance to the Miss America pageant to be held in Atlantic City this September.

“It sounds crazy to me, thinking about being in the Miss America Pageant and being Miss New York,” she said. “But I think it is something I have to keep in mind and set as a goal for myself.”

Published on January 16, 2018 at 9:42 pm

Contact Taylor: tnwatson@syr.edu