Wearing northern B.C.'s crown at the Miss Teenage Canada pageant was not too heavy a burden on the head of Kyla Arnett. She sailed through the event, placing in the Top 20 and winning entry into the Top Model Search Canada competition.
Arnett said she was initially disappointed that she didn't get enough votes from the public to vault her into the finals through the online ballot segment, but that only made it sweeter to her ears when her name was called for the Top 20 anyway.
"It means I made it through based on personal merits, so that was great news to hear," she said following Saturday's gala event at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Toronto.
The experience was made all the more emotional by the death of her beloved grandfather only days before the pageant got underway, but much of her family is located in Ontario and so she turned the trip into a family reunion. The support of close loved ones, especially her younger cousin Kirsti who had been her inspiration throughout the months-long process, helped strengthen her.
"I had a lot of fun, I felt I did well, and other than maybe take some dance lessons in advance I don't think I'd do anything differently. The choreography was the only thing I was really uncomfortable with, and they were pretty simple moves," she said.
More than making up for this was the trip to the CN Tower, the television appearance for all the competitors on Global TV's Toronto morning show, working with professionals in the different pageant disciplines, and the public speaking opportunities. It was a week of personal development, she said.
Almost all of it was outside the usual Kyla Arnett persona. She is not a "girlie girl" or someone who has aspired to modelling or acting. This was illustrated by the pleasant challenge she presented to the makeup crew backstage.
"They were laughing about it. They'd never had to do anything like it before," she said. "A week before the pageant I was working with the horses and I cut my leg on barbed wire. It was really noticeable in my dress, so they were putting makeup on my leg."
When she returns home it won't be to the cosmetics desk of a department store, or a trendy clothing retailer. In addition to preparing for the pageant (fundraising, public speaking, etc.) she also earned her forklift operator's certification, got her Spark Watch ticket, and other industrial training so she can take on her shift work at Mackenzie Pulp Mill.
The experience taught her life lessons and introduced her to friends for life, from all parts of the nation. It also inspired her to renew her volunteer efforts in the community, especially pertaining to special-needs children and youth.
"Come September I'll be reading to children at the Child Development Centre. There is a volunteer program there for that," she said. "I'll keep doing my therapeutic riding work and I hope to actually expand that. My work schedule is quite heavy, I have to build up money for UNBC this fall, so I'm not going to be able to accept the scholarship I won to attend the Top Model Search Canada pageant in August, but now that I know what a pageant entails I'm interested in taking part in others in the future."
