Don Tyson School of Innovation graduate Kaytlin Dwyer will focus on cultural understanding and empowerment when she competes June 3-10 in the Miss Arkansas scholarship pageant in Little Rock.
“My biggest goal is to inspire others within the community and across Arkansas to embrace cultural diversity and to create a society where people feel they have a purpose and belong,” Dwyer said.
Dwyer, 18, said she qualified for the pageant when she was crowned Miss Ozark Highlands on Jan. 21 in Clarksville.
The 2023 graduate said she’s fairly new to pageant competitions.
“With the exception of the Benton County Fair Pageant when I was 4 years old, this is my first year participating in pageants,” she said.
The Miss Arkansas Scholarship Program is dedicated to providing scholarships for young women to continue their education, according to the program’s website.
Dwyer said she earned $250 in event awards, a $750 scholarship to the college or university of her choice, a $2,000 scholarship to Arkansas Tech University in Russellville, a $2,000 scholarship to the University of Arkansas – Fort Smith, as well more than $1,300 in gifts and services as Miss Ozark Highlands.
A Don Tyson School of Innovation advisor encouraged Dwyer to explore pageants as a means of earning scholarships, she said. Dwyer has won about $5,000 in scholarships to date.
Kaytlin Dwyer shares her diversity, equity and inclusion platform April 10 at Parson Hills Elementary School.
Answering the Call
What started as a way to obtain college scholarships quickly became a calling to do something impactful for Arkansas and her community, Dwyer said.
Her platform of “Celebrating Cultures and Empowering Leaders” has special meaning to the teen, she said.
“We live in a diverse society, and it is vital that all voices are heard and everyone feels a sense of empowerment and belonging,” Dwyer said. “I believe that this empowerment will create a desire to help others, which creates a stronger, kinder, more-inclusive and more-connected community.”
Dwyer said she’s of Latina descent and was adopted by white parents.
“I was familiar with being the only person of color in social circumstances. I was often self-conscious as a young girl,” she said. “My role models and leaders within the community looked nothing like me. I was one of only a few kids in my elementary school who was not white. I noticed that the media, especially TV, had little diversity.”
The physical differences were apparent to Dwyer as a child, she said, adding she desperately wanted to fit in by changing her skin color and hair. Her parents, Daniel and Jerri Dwyer, told her not focus on her physical differences from others, but to look inward to find the power within herself to change lives.
“My platform is designed to pour into youth and help them find their voice. Everyone has a leader within and something special inside. Sometimes it just takes one person to help locate it,” Dwyer said. “Regardless of age, gender, disability, citizenship status or ethnicity, everyone has the power to impact lives. I want to inspire others to become leaders who create inclusive environments and initiate changes needed in this world."
Pageant competitions opened doors to allow her to become a voice for celebrating cultural diversity and inclusion, she said.
Dwyer shared her platform with Parson Hills Elementary School students April 10.
Kyla Price, Parson Hills kindergarten teacher, said Dwyer's diversity, equity and inclusion platform is meaningful to the schools’ students.
“The majority of our Parson Hills students are Hispanic and Marshallese,” Price said “Kaytlin's platform of teaching them how to celebrate their individuality, their culture and their future leadership is vital to help them grow as well-rounded people.”
Kaytlin Dwyer will compete June 3-10 in the Miss Arkansas scholarship pageant.
Competing for Miss Arkansas
Scoring for the Miss Arkansas scholarship pageant will include a private interview, 30% of final score, an on-stage conversation, 10%, a health and fitness competition, 20%, a talent performance, 20%, and an evening gown competition, 20%, Dwyer said.
She said her talent is Irish dancing, a hobby she began 13 years ago.
“My grandmother is first-generation from Ireland, and she and her brother were Irish dancers,” Dwyer said. “She took me to an Irish dance show at Silver Dollar City, and I knew this was the dance for me.”
Dwyer said her involvement in Irish dance is also an investment in her platform.
“It is significant for our young dancers to see the older dancers living in a way that celebrates our differences,” said Ana Ayala Barker, Dwyer’s dance teacher and owner of Rince Arkansas Academy of Irish Dance in Fayetteville. “Kaytlin has been sharing her talents around the community through performances around St. Patrick's Day and international festivals. She has always been one of the dancers who enjoys not just dancing, but also talking about her passion.”
Dwyer said she hopes to win more scholarship money, but it’s more important to have a voice for her platform by competing in the Miss Arkansas pageant.
“I hope to gain the skills and connections needed to be successful in my future career in the area of diversity, equity and Inclusion,” Dwyer said.
Dwyer earned an associate degree with an emphasis on the social sciences through the NorthWest Arkansas Community College Associate Degree program as a DTSOI student, she said. She plans on pursuing a bachelor’s degree in anthropology through the University of Arkansas.