I was at the Kiwanis Invitational Meet last Saturday to cheer and encourage all the athletes, take pictures and write about it. I got there early when the Sweetwater Special Track team was doing warm-up exercises. While standing there, watching, soaking up the sun, I felt someone tap my shoulder.
When I turned around, a very pretty young lady wearing a crown was smiling at me. “Hi,” she said. “I recognized you from across the track.”
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I was speechless, for her being able to recognize me under my armor against the sun: a big hat and long-sleeved shirt. But what grabbed me was when I realized who she was.
“I’m Stephanie [Schauer],” said Miss El Cajon 2012. “You always come around to the candy shop where I work.”
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I hugged her so tight her crown almost came off. We laughed. “I had no idea that you were in the pageant! But it shouldn’t’ surprise me. You’re gorgeous!” I said.
Standing by her side, Miss South Bay 2011 Erin Weaver agreed. “I knew she would win,” said Weaver, who is Schauer’s best friend. “Who wouldn’t be Steph’s best friend?”
The thing about Stephanie is her smile, her charming way of being with me when I stopped by to make my candy purchase. She always chatted easily with me, asked me what movie I was going to see. And she always remembered that I had the Triple A discount.
She had just been crowned the week before at the Miss El Cajon Pageant. “This is my first event since I got crowned,” Stephanie said, her crown gleaming under the 9 a.m. sunlight.
Stephanie had been assigned ‘buddies’ to the athletes in the track meet. One of Stephanie’s new friends included Kenneth Johnson, who had just won First Place in the Long Jump.
I’m proud to know Stephanie, even prouder that she knows me. She is a shining example of the kind of woman that the Council for Youth Empowerment scholarship pageant is all about.
