Incoming El Dorado High School senior Reaves Robinson traveled to Little Rock last week to compete in the Miss Arkansas Outstanding Teen pageant.
Robinson, who’s competed and placed in several pageants since her freshman year, placed third in the top 15 for the competition. She won Miss Natural State’s Outstanding Teen this year in order to qualify.
Despite not winning this time around, Robinson said she enjoyed the experience of it.
“It’s always so much fun to get to meet girls from all around the state,” she said. “And it’s really, really awesome to be able to represent my community in Miss Arkansas Outstanding Teen.”
After competing in seven pageants when she first began, Robinson won Miss Southeast Arkansas Outstanding Teen in 2017. She won two preliminary awards at the state competition that year and placed in the top 15. The following year, she won Miss Texarkana Outstanding Teen and placed in the top 10 at state.
Robinson said she wanted to give back to the community and thought that the Miss America program would be a good way to do so. Every title holder is required to have a social impact program that she works on. For Robinson, it’s the “Reading with Reaves – Reading is Important” program.
Through this, she’s worked on improving literacy in the area by reading at the different elementary schools around El Dorado.
“We read books,” she said. “We talk about the characters, the plot, the setting and then we talk about how important reading is and how it can benefit their education. I’ve really just always loved volunteering and I’ve always loved working with kids. That’s why I decided to choose reading as my social impact initiative.”
For her talent, Robinson performances dance. She’s been dancing since she was around 3-years-old and doesn’t really get stage fright anymore. However, she said the onstage questions can be a little scary, but that’s something she’s needed to practice and work through.
“I’ve dealt with it, I enjoy it,” she said.
Robinson started practicing her dance for this year’s competition during winter break last year. She’s been working on it for about a year and a half. She had somebody from Oklahoma help with choreography.
For the Miss Arkansas Outstanding Teen organization, Robinson said, the young women need to work their social impact initiative, get prepared for the physical aspect of the competition and practice the talent.
“For interviews, I’ve had an interview coach and a class,” she said. “I go once a week, pretty much. We just talk about different current events that are going on in our world right now and talking about how I can answer certain questions.”
Along with dancing, Robinson plays soccer at El Dorado High School and was elected to be on student council next year. She has to balance her school work, her activities and preparations for the pageants.
“For me at least, I’ve just always had to prioritize what’s more important to me,” she said. “School, of course, always came first, and second was always pageantry because whenever you hold a title – whether it’s local or state or national – it’s going to be your job. Your job is to promote your social impact. Soccer and dance came after that, which were both important for my preparation for Miss Arkansas Outstanding Teen. Sometimes that led to me giving up a weekend that I could spend with my friends to go prepare for Miss Arkansas, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.”
For other young girls who are interested in pageantry, Robinson said she would encourage them to try it because there’s nothing to lose from it.
“You learn so many things, including interview skills,” she said. “That has helped me tremendously when it comes to school work and potential job interviews. Interview skills are something that all people need to know and have. There’s just so many benefits from it. You get to meet so many people. One of my best friends texted me earlier and we were talking about stuff completely outside of pageants, but it’s just a great way to meet people and learn new things and there’s not much harm that can come from it.”
Michael Shine may be reached at 870-862-6611 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter and like him on Facebook @MichaelAZShine for updates on Union County school news.