Two young ladies will be spending their Labor Day weekend representing Orange County in the Miss Texas Teen and Miss Texas Beauty Pageant. Both pageants are being held in Houston at the Hilton Post Oak.
Jordan Peveto will participate in the Teen Pageant and Haleigh Mae Stark is a contestant in the Miss Texas Pageant.
Peveto, 19, is a 2020 graduate of Orangefield High School. Her parents are Derek Peveto and April Peveto. Peveto is a “newbie” to the pageant world. Her love of modeling lead her to this opportunity.
“Through modeling I met some other ladies who were in pageants and I thought it would be a great opportunity,” Peveto said. Orange County doesn’t have a qualifying pageant so Peveto went through the application process.
“I was excited to be selected and I’m looking forward to the experience,” she said. You would think having to compete against 130 other young ladies, being interviewed by strangers and making sure you put one foot in front of the other while people are watching, would make you nervous. But Peveto appears confident and ready, “I’m just going to be myself.”
As a contestant, the ladies will be judged in three equal categories consisting of Personal Interview, Activewear and Evening Wear. Jordan, who currently attends Lamar State College Orange, will also participate in two performances on stage that they will have to learn while they are there.
The pageant will be streamed at pageantslive.com and there is a charge. The Preliminary Show begins at 3:00 p.m., Saturday, September 4 and the Final Show is Sunday, September 5 beginning at 2pm.
Stark will compete in the Miss Texas Pageant. She graduated from Little Cypress-Mauriceville in 2018.
Their Preliminary Show will be Friday, September 3 with the Finals Saturday night at 8pm.
Stark, 22, has pageant experience, competing in several local pageants when she was younger and also a State pageant in 2014. “In 2014 I placed in the Top 25 of 180 contestants in the American Miss Teen Pageant,” she said.
The daughter of Andy and Amanda Stark, Haleigh Mae says she’s always wanted to be Miss USA. “I’ve already had so many great experiences and met so many great women who have become friends. Sure it’s a competition but we also support each other.”
Stark has been studying for the competition. ” I’ve watched a lot of videos of past pageants and my mom has helped me with flash cards to answer questions and things like that.”
Stark works at Baptist Hospital while she attends Lamar-Port Arthur with plans on becoming a surgical assistant. Like the Operating Room, Stark will need to be on point in the two day event and she says she’s ready.
The Miss Texas competition will also include about 130 contestants. The competition consists of three categories: Personal Interview, Swimsuit, and Evening Gown. There will also be winners announced in Swimsuit, Photogenic, Miss Congeniality and the winner of the People’s Choice Award.
Hosting the show will be Logan Lester, Miss Texas USA 2018, and Albert Soliz, a popular consultant, judge and emcee in the Miss USA pageant system.
The reigning Miss Texas and Miss Teen Texas are Taylor Kessler of Sugarland and Anissa Mendez of Laredo (below).
-Gary Stelly, KOGT-
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