ABOVE: Sophia Keister, a senior at Blue Earth Area Schools, on stage at the Miss Teen Volunteer America pageant last weekend in Jackson, Tennessee.

FAIRMONT– Over the weekend, Sophia Keister, a senior at Blue Earth Area Schools, competed for Miss Teen Volunteer America in Jackson, Tennessee. Keister placed in the top 16 and won the People’s Choice award.

The Keister family, which includes Sophia, her brother, Sam, and parents, Amy and Travis, moved to Fairmont about four years ago from Blue Earth.

Sophia’s journey through pageants is different than that of many others. She hasn’t been in them since she was a toddler, but rather just started participating in December of 2022.

“A family friend, Emmy, reached out. She’s always been in pageants and was recently named Miss World America,” Sophia explained.

Emmy is a director for Iowa, which held a Miss Teen Volunteer Iowa pageant. The Miss Teen Volunteer and Miss Volunteer program is new. In fact, it was started just two years ago by Allison DeMarcus.

Emmy shared information about Sophia with DeMarcus, who in turn reached out to Sophia. Because Minnesota doesn’t yet have a program and has no director, Sophia did not participate in a pageant to receive the title of Miss Teen Volunteer Minnesota. Instead she answered a series of questions and proved herself worthy through her volunteer work.

As it’s a new program, Sophia was actually the first to be named Miss Minnesota Teen Volunteer.

“They’re trying to grow it to all the states. There are quite a few at-large titles, but by having the at-larges, it helps get the name out,” Amy explained.

In order to prepare for the pageant, Sophia did some coaching with a consulting company out of Alabama. It helped her prepare by going over interview skills, what to wear and what to expect.

For the Miss Teen Volunteer America pageant, each participant needed to have a SERVE initiative. Sophia explained that SERVE stands for Scholarship, Education, Responsibility, Volunteerism and Empowerment.

“We had to have something that we’re passionate about that we could express,” Sophia said.

She worked with Thumbs Up for Mental Health to bring its program, No One Sits Solo and its Power of PATH curriculum, into area schools. She has made a presentation to the Blue Earth Area School Board and is waiting to hear back whether the curriculum will be accepted.

“It has to do with anxiety and suicide prevention. I show anxiety so I thought it was something I could express and help people relate to,” Sophia said about the programs.

Another service project that Sophia spearheaded that was considered was a dress collection. Sophia started a drive to collect prom, bridesmaids and formal dresses. She found a business, Prom It Forward Minnesota, while looking for a place to donate her own prom dress.

“I thought I should reach out to them because I know a lot of my friends don’t need their dresses anymore, either,” Sophia said.

Prom It Forward sells dresses at a discounted price with proceeds going to the Central Minnesota Sexual Assault Center. Sophia took to social media to ask for donations and ended up securing nearly 100 dresses which she brought to the store in Sauk Rapids for a sale event in February.

In addition to volunteer work she’s done, her other leadership positions were considered. Sophia is treasurer of the National Honor Society at Blue Earth Area Schools and vice president of the class of 2023. She was also team captain of the varsity basketball team for the past two years.

“For two years, every week I grocery shop for a resident at New Life Manor in Blue Earth. I pick up his groceries and deliver them every week,” Sophia said.

On the first day of the Miss Teen Volunteer American pageant, Sophia said she met the other 40 contestants, as well as the first young woman to be named Miss Teen Volunteer America. They also met Miss Volunteer America, as well as the founder of the program, Allison DeMarcus.

Sophia admitted that since she’s never been in a pageant before, she was nervous about meeting the other contestants, many of whom had been doing pageants for years. However, it ended up being one of her favorite parts about the whole experience as she found everyone to be kind and relatable.

“I made so many friends. I’m going to be in touch with someone from every state now,” Sophia said.

As the mother of a contestant, Amy said she was nervous going into it, especially because pageants aren’t as prevalent in the midwest as they are in the south.

“I was nervous that because she was an at-large and hadn’t been in a pageant, the girls wouldn’t be nice to her. It wasn’t like that. It was so inclusive. They call it a sisterhood and it truly is,” said Amy.

Following rehearsals on the first night, preliminaries were held the next two days. For that, each contestant underwent a six minute long interview where they were asked about their SERVE initiative and how they would handle being named Miss Teen Volunteer America.

Overall, contestants were judged on talent, interview skills, their evening gown and fitness and wellness.

“I was worried about the talent part. A lot of the girls would be singing and dancing but I gave a monologue about leadership and perseverance. That was my first time on stage. My monologue was kind of funny and I gave it while wearing my basketball uniform,” Sophia said.

Overall, Sophia placed in the top 16 and won the People’s Choice award as voting was open online. The whole pageant could also be viewed online so Sophia competed knowing her family and friends were watching, cheering her on.

She said since she began the whole pageant process, her friends have been very supportive.

“They’re like, ‘we can see you doing this. This was meant for you,'” Sophia said.

Along with the support of friends and family, Sophia had a number of people and businesses support her by sponsoring her participation in the pageant. These included Prom Pageant Couture, Seifried Portrait Design, Artistry by Arica, Bash Fitness, Fairmont Ford, Culligan, Bevcomm, Juba’s, Gandgennett Dental and Minnlow Crop Insurance.

“Sponsorship is a huge thing for pageants,” Amy said.

While Sophia said she’s sad the pageant is over and done, she will keep her title of Miss Minnesota Teen Volunteer through the end of the year. With it she plans to schedule some times to read to classes of young students. She will also manage the Miss Minnesota Teen Volunteer Instagram and Facebook pages.

As for what’s next, Sophia plans to attend Iowa State University in the fall where she’ll study business management and fashion design.

Sophia is open to continuing with pageants. As she’ll be in Iowa next year, she’s considering competing in the Miss Volunteer Iowa pageant.