Pageant at Blythewood High lets girls know it’s OK to be different
This column is about persistence, a beauty pageant and – oh yeah – a bad permanent.
So, dear reader, bear with me.
First, the permanent.
When I was a gangly teen, I decided it was time to cut my straight brown locks and have a more fashionable hair-do, like all the pretty girls around me at school. My mother’s solution to this matter was to take me to an old-lady beauty parlor in Five Points where the odor of ammonia made your eyes smart and where a beautician bestowed enough tightly-wound curls on my head to make me look like Bozo the Clown, in brown.
It was a horrific experience that lasted some six months.
So it was that last week, when I talked with a lovely young woman named Mhorgan Stephens about a beauty pageant she organizes for young women with special needs, I was able to understand what she meant when she said this: “As a teenage girl, your hair is a large part of your identity. After losing mine, I had to find out who I was. My hair was my testimony for me. All your physical features, they are nice to have. But you have to feel comfortable in your own skin. You need to focus on things that truly matter about yourself, your personality and your character.”
Wow.
Talk about words of wisdom from a 16-year-old barely out of life’s starting gate.
So who is Mhorgan?
I’ll tell you who – a smart, determined and persistent teenager who got in touch with me this time a year ago to help get the word out about her beauty pageant, called Miss Phenomenol.
She was organizing the event for the first time and hoped I would write about it.
I didn’t. Don’t know why other than I must have had other things on my plate.
So a year went by and much to my surprise, several weeks ago I got another email from Mhorgan.
“Hi Mrs. Salley. My name is Mhorgan Stephens. I am currently in the 11th grade at Blythewood High School and I was wondering if you could help advertise a pageant I am doing. Six years ago I was diagnosed with ITP (Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura) which is a very bad blood disorder. Some doctors classify it as blood cancer. I went from not being able to attend school because of going through chemo and having a weak immune system to losing my hair. I was constantly sick.
“When I first got into high school, my self-confidence was kind of low and I didn’t know how some people would react to me barely having hair and knowing I had cancer.”
The email continued.
“Two years ago I got involved in my school pageant and decided to make a bold statement by wearing my natural hair because to me that’s a symbol of my testimony and I really wanted to let girls know it’s OK to be different and love yourself. Last year I decided to take it a step further. I created a pageant called Miss Phenomenal, which is for girls who have special needs and disorders or any girl who might not have a lot of confidence.”
Mhorghan drums up a lot of support for the pageant and provides contestants with dresses, shoes, hair and nail appointments. “The whole nine yards,” she said.
This year’s pageant will be held at 6 p.m. March 19, in the Blythewood High auditorium. Applications for the pageant are available at guidance offices at Richland District 2 high schools and sign-ups need to be completed by Feb. 10.
Those interested in the pageant also may email Mhorgan at missphenomenol16@gmail.com or call (803) 269-6666.
“My whole goal (is) really just to empower and uplift these amazing girls and let them know they are beautiful,” Mhorgan said. “Last year was a big success but I believe it can be even better.”
I do too. Bad permanents aside, persistence always pays off when putting together a special beauty pageant.
Good luck, Mhorgan.
Salley McAden McInerney is a local writer whose novel, Journey Proud, is based upon growing up in Columbia, S.C. in the early 1960s. Ms. McInerney may be reached by emailing salley.mac@gmail.com.
This story was originally published February 4, 2016 at 11:23 AM with the headline "Pageant at Blythewood High lets girls know it’s OK to be different."