By Emily Schoch | Staff Writer
Sparkling gowns, high heels and heartfelt causes took center stage Tuesday night as Kappa Kappa Gamma hosted the annual Baylor Beauties pageant, meant to raise funds and awareness for Caritas of Waco.
Chattanooga, Tenn. junior Olivia Scotchie, Kappa Kappa Gamma Vice President of External Affairs, explained the inner workings of the pageant. Scotchie said first they reach out to a bunch of different organizations on campus to nominate girls who they think would qualify as a “Baylor Beauty.”
After each organization has nominated the members they want to see compete in the beauty pageant, those nominations are put into Connect, a software structure made for large quantities of voting. The Connect survey is open to the whole Baylor campus to vote on the final nominees who will compete in the beauty pageant.
“Once organizations nominate their girls, then there is an all-campus voting,” Scotchie said. “The whole school can vote through Connect for whom they believe should be in the show.”
Once Kappa receives the finalized result from the Connect survey, they reach out to the women who have been selected to compete in Baylor Beauties with a questionnaire regarding their hobbies, personal achievements and community involvement.
“We make scripts for the show asking each girl an important question to them and highlighting their achievements and their community involvement,” Scotchie said.
The women participate in a practice beauty pageant the Sunday before the event, going over how the pageant will work logistically as well as teaching the women how to walk and pose like a pageant queen.
Scotchie said the pageant is structured with multiple parts. There’s highlighting different styles of dresses and showcasing the women’s community involvement through an unknown question being asked to each contestant while on stage.
“The first part of the show is a casual outfit, and that is when they have a shorter dress on, and they come out and make a few poses,” Scotchie said. “Then they change into more of a formal attire, and they have an escort who escorts them out, and then they answer a question that has to do with something about their involvement at Baylor and in the community.”
Scotchie said all of the money raised through the pageant will be sent to Caritas of Waco, a local food pantry that supports those battling food insecurity in Waco.
Missouri City junior Leighton Mcelreath, a pageant contestant, said there are three judges, each with a background that makes them fit to judge the pageant. After the women have gone through the casual outfit and the formal outfit, the judges will take some time to finalize their votes — only 10 women will be named a “Baylor Beauty.”
Mcelreath said being nominated to be a contestant in the beauty pageant was an honor.
“I got nominated by ATO, which is a fraternity, and so they nominated me,” Mcelreath said. “And then my name got put into an all on campus voting, and then that’s when everyone could vote for whoever.”
Mcelreath said competing in Baylor Beauties was such an honor and joy because she got to showcase her talents and accomplishments as well as support a local charity.
