With a palette of vibrant pigments, the 2018-19 Miss Temple City paints a bright rainbow on a little girl’s face. Senior Megan Lee often works at a face painting booth at Concerts in the Park, events where community members come together to enjoy music under the cool breeze of summer evenings.
“It brings us closer as we get to know one another and each other’s stories,” Lee said. “I wanted to be more involved in the community as it makes me feel more connected to the place I know as home.”
Inspired by the previous court, Lee decided to enter the pageant to express her ideas and inspire her community. As a member of the Miss TC Ambassador Program, she enjoys attending community events and meeting people.
Applicants need a proposed platform to compete or a set of plans that appeal to the public to pursue throughout the year. Lee grew up seeing the threat of Southern California fires and the terrors of increasing school dangers, such as school shootings.
Through her volunteer work with children in the community, she noticed the importance of education and what it could achieve. Combining her passion for working with children with something she wanted to spread awareness of, Lee chose to pursue educating them about first responders as her platform.
“It’s important to recognize the hard work people do to protect us,” Lee said. “My dream is that the children learn to share the amount of appreciation for them that I have.”
Lee’s hardest obstacle was public speaking. At school, she consistently struggled with a distaste to presentations and speeches. However, during the pageant, Lee took one step towards overcoming this fear as she gave her platform speech in front of an audience of 175. Preparing months in advance by practicing to family and friends, Lee walked onto the stage confident she would not blank out.
“On the day of the pageant, I pretended no one was in the audience,” Lee said. “I talked to an empty pit, which helped calm my nerves. I gave it my all, and performed it like I had rehearsed all along.”
With the responsibility as Miss TC and juggling many AP classes and extracurriculars as well, Lee finds joy in exploring the world. Often at colorguard practice as a dedicated third-year member of TCHS Auxiliaries, she prepares for numerous competitions. She also fundraises for nonprofit organizations in the community as the President of the Helping Hands Organization.
Moving forward, Lee plans to bring children to the fire department and sheriff’s station for tours as part of her platform. She also wants to coordinate firefighter and policemen presentations at elementary schools to give students an overview of what these first responders do and the importance of their jobs. Lee is exploring Spain this spring and hopes to have more traveling opportunities.
TCHS School Newspaper