On Saturday, September 13, Tipp City hosted its annual Mum Pageant where Northmont’s own senior Caitlin Cuesta placed as third attendant.

“Even though I placed well, this was actually my first year in the pageant,” said Cuesta.

The Mum Pageant is only open to juniors and seniors in high school.

“Last year I didn’t really want to do the pageant, which I now regret. My friend Clarie Kleptz contacted me a few days before the deadline to sign up and recommended me to give it a shot, so I said ‘what the heck’ and went for it,” said Cuesta.

Competing in any beauty pageant requires a significant time commitment and intense preparation.

“Before the pageant, I had to do a personal interview with the five judges where they asked me questions about my academics, hobbies, and aspirations. I was judged on my appearance, poise, confidence and overall attitude,” said Cuesta.

All the pageant members had to learn a dance for the opening number to perform at the beginning of the pageant.

“The opening number was the hardest part of the pageant because I am a horrible dancer! Luckily that part was not scored,” said Cuesta.

After the opening number, there was an introductory segment.

“During the introduction segment of the pageant is when we just wear a semi-formal dress and walked the stage,” said Cuesta.

The second to last portion of the pageant was the talent portion.

“I cannot sing nor dance, so my choices for the talent were limited. With the help of Ms. Henderson, I decided to recite a barbie monologue. I wore a super sparkly pink dress and talked like a valley girl,” said Cuesta.

It was definitely unique from the other girls talents.

Finally there was the last segment of the pageant which was the evening gown and interview segment.

“We had to walk on stage in our gowns and then we were asked simple questions on stage,” said Cuesta.

Cuesta was named third attendant and was part of the Tipp City Mum Festival all weekend long, as well as the Bradford Pumpkin Parade, Lebanon Horse Parade, Dayton Air Show, Troy Strawberry Festival, and Englewood Arts Parade.