Shaker Heights High School Junior Marina DeNunzio is an IB Diploma Programme student, a member of the High School Environmental Club, a Student Ambassador, a member of mock trial and Model UN, a co-captain of the Raiderettes, and she’s on the Superintendent’s Student Advisory Council. She also happens to be a pageant queen whose duties go far beyond donning a tiara and a sash—she spends much of the little free time she has advocating for the environment and incorporating sustainable living practices into daily living.
This past March, Marina was crowned Miss Cuyahoga Valley’s Outstanding Teen, which enables her to compete in the Miss Ohio Outstanding Teen in June. The Outstanding Teen competition encourages positive achievement in contestants by helping to nurture and build scholastic achievements, creative accomplishments, healthy living, and community involvement of our nation’s youth. Marina also holds the Teen Miss Earth Ohio crown, which she won last year.
Marina has been involved with pageants since she was seven and she says they have been such a positive force in her development. “Just in general, being involved in pageants has given me a foundation in time management and the confidence to be on stage, speak in public and interact with all types of people at community events,” she says. Marina has also embraced the community service aspects of being a pageant winner. She regularly visits with local Girl Scout groups with a program she developed called “Marina’s Mermaids,” a project-based activity that teaches children how to turn unrecyclable items (like clamshell plastic containers) into something new.
“I think the important thing is to remind people that being involved in pageants isn’t just about getting up on a stage and saying, ‘Look at me, I’m so beautiful.’ It’s about showing that we are intelligent young women who can be representatives for everyone and who value scholastic achievement and community involvement.”