Lauren Mnayarji was crowned Miss IU 2015 ?last night.
She was also judged the winner of the talent portion and South Central Indiana Kiwanis’ “One Can Make a Difference” award.
Mnayarji, standing at 4 feet, 11 1/2 inches, said she never thought she would compete in pageants due to her height.
After taking two years away from pageantry, Mnayarji said Miss IU the only pageant that would bring her back on stage.
“Because it’s not about how tall you are, or how skinny you are,” she said. “It’s more about who you are and what you represent, and I love that.”
Thirteen young women competed for the title of Miss IU in the Alumni Hall at the Indiana Memorial Union last night.
An opening number, coordinated by T.J. Moore from Terre Haute, silenced the crowd.
All eyes were on the contestants as they marched and danced to “Grown Woman” by Beyonce.
They were dressed in heels, jeans and crimson shirts with “Miss Indiana University” bedazzled onto the front.
Contestants competed in four categories of the evening: on-stage ?question/statement of platform, talent, swimsuit and evening gown.
Contestants answered questions for the first section of the evening, then entered the talent portion. Talents included singing, dancing, poetry and even speed-sewing.
Mnayarji won this portion with her contemporary dance routine choreographed to “All Coming Back to Me Now” by ?Celine Dion.
Quesley Bunch, Miss Crossroads to America 2015, said Mnayarji is passionate with her dancing and “really comes alive through Celine Dion” in her performances.
Mnayarji also won SCI Kiwanis’ “One Can Make a Difference” award with her “Mental Health Advocacy and Awareness” platform as Miss IU.
At the end of the night, all of the contestants held hands before hearing the results of the judge’s scores.
Katelyn Mehling, Interview Winner of the evening, said her experience with the pageant has been “nothing short of awesome.” Her favorite part of the Miss IU journey was meeting and getting to know the other contestants.
She said the girls were all helpful and supportive of each other during the process of preparation for the competition.
From the scores of each section, the women had the opportunity to be awarded several different titles.
The chain of pageant girls broke one-by-one as they were called to accept their awards. Ali Harris was titled First Runner-Up, and Kyla Brummett was the ?Second Runner-Up.
Brummett was also titled Miss Congeniality of the evening, receiving roses and a DVD set of the Miss Congeniality movies.
Riley Colley was given the People’s Choice Award, or “crowd favorite” of the evening.
Erika Burghardt, Miss IU 2014, was unable to attend last night’s competition in order to crown this year’s winner due to a conflict of her work schedule in ?Milwaukee.
Instead, the stage was left empty while Burghardt’s prerecorded farewell speech played for the crowd.
She said her goodbye was especially hard because she was not able to be in attendance for the pageant and deliver her goodbye ?in person.
She said she feels her speech was not saying goodbye as Miss IU, but rather “switching positions.”
After Mnayarji’s name was called, the crowd could see her saying “thank you” and “you girls are the best” several times.
Mnayarji won close to $2,000 in scholarships, as well as several prizes, by the end of the night. She said she feels “overjoyed (and) super honored to represent this school” as Miss IU 2015.
