Four Points of the Crown: Miss Oklahoma State University

Style, Service, Scholarship, Success.

This is what the Miss America Opportunity is about. 

On January 25, 2024, a new Miss Oklahoma State University was crowned. I had the opportunity to meet with her and talk about all things pageant. Katelyn Woods, Lawton, Oklahoma native, is not new to the pageant community. She previously held the titles of Miss Swasso’s Outstanding Teen and Miss Bethany’s Outstanding Teen while she was in high school. While enjoying our coffee we discovered that our lives are quite similar, pageant and not. We both began competing in high school, our platforms were about bullying, we took gap years after aging out of the teen division, and so many other crazy coincidences. Because of this, I was able to get to know her better and learn about her Miss America Opportunity.

STYLE

When you hear the word “style” your mind probably goes to fashion, but in the Miss America Organization it refers to handling yourself with beauty and grace. Katelyn mentioned how most people would assume that the “best” part of pageants is picking out beautiful dresses and talent outfits, but that is far from the case. For Katelyn, she enjoyed the preparation. She was coached by the well known Landry Champlin, 2 time 1st Runner Up to Miss Texas and my former sister queen, to polish up her interview skills. Landry runs a successful pageant coaching business, Pageant Prep by Landry, and has helped several young women reach their full potential. Katelyn enjoyed every minute of pursuing personal growth and looks forward to continuing her work to prepare for the Miss Oklahoma Competition.

I asked Katelyn about her plans for her year of service as Miss OSU things she was looking forward to. Like any OSU student, Katelyn absolutely loves homecoming. As a titleholder, you are often booked for “appearances” to get involved in a community and as Miss OSU, one of the very special opportunities is being involved with every aspect of homecoming. Katelyn is a member of Kappa Alpha Theta and is not new to the craziness that is OSU homecoming, but this year she gets to experience it from a different point of view.

One of Katelyn’s biggest goals for her year of service is to start a podcast focused on diversity in pageants as well as on our campus. She has already begun the prep work and cannot wait to be able to share her knowledge with the world.

SERVICE

Katelyn's Community Service Initiative is titled “Don’t Stand By, Be Kind.” Her focus is on bullying and kindness. With her platform, she teaches students 3 steps of kindness, empathy, deliberate acts of kindness, and celebrating diversity. Katelyn also implements a weekly initiative called Throw Kindness Thursday. Every Thursday she finds a way for herself and others to do deliberate acts of kindness. Her most recent event she was able to include her sorority sisters of Kappa Alpha Theta. They wrote letters to the Theta house mom from the members of Theta to show their appreciation for all that she does for them. Katelyn’s next big event as Miss OSU is on March 14, she will be hosting a Kindness Day celebration in the SMSC. At this event there will be chances for people to do deliberate acts of kindness and a scholarship opportunity. In order to be eligible for the scholarship you must be studying one of the following: Sports Media, Strategic Communications, or Multi Media Journalism. To apply for this scholarship, students must write an essay about their story with kindness.

SCHOLARSHIP

Katelyn is a senior at OSU studying strategic communications. Because of her life in the pageant world she is able to graduate college debt free. She plans on pursuing a master’s degree, and because of the scholarships she earned from just competing at the Miss OSU competition she can already make a dent in paying for it. Katelyn was the overall talent winner, which was a prize of $100, and she also won the title of Miss OSU, earning her $1500 in tuition scholarships. She encourages every woman to compete. The scholarship money is absolutely incredible and should not go to waste. If you are thinking about competing for Miss OSU or in any pageant, go for it. 

SUCCESS

Katelyn is excited for all of the opportunities she will be given as Miss OSU, but the homecoming festivities excite her the most. Katelyn will be a part of every homecoming event and have a front row seat to America’s Greatest Homecoming. Being Miss OSU, comes with so many amazing opportunities to represent the greatest university and teaches you several life lessons. By competing in pageants, Katelyn has been able to learn so many valuable skills that she can take with her when she graduates. Her confidence has sky-rocketed. She was a victim of bullying in middle school and never felt confident in herself until she found pageants and learned to love herself. Her speaking skills have improved as well. One of the main parts of pageants is the private interview, for the Miss America Organization the interview is 10 minutes of sharing your heart and soul with an incredible panel of judges, and Katelyn would have never imagined being able to speak with such grace before pageants. She also learned that the sky is the limit and that you are capable of anything you put your mind to.

Along with serving her community and representing Oklahoma State University, Katelyn will be preparing to compete for the title of Miss Oklahoma. The competition will take place the first week of June and she cannot wait to make this university proud.