BATTLE GROUND - If there is one thing 16-year-old Battle Ground High School student Talia Horacek has taken away from her involvement with the Miss Teen of America organization over the last several months, it’s that she’s excited to help promote confidence in young girls and help show them that they can do anything they set their minds to.
“It’s (the Miss Teen of Washington Pageant) not a beauty pageant,” Horacek said. “Judging is based mostly on scholastic and personal achievements.”
Horacek was crowned Miss Teen of Washington 2016 at the Miss Teen of Washington Pageant, held June 24-26 at College of Idaho in Caldwell, Idaho. According to a news release from the Miss Teen of America organization, young ladies from across the state, ages 13-18, participated in the event culminating with the crowning of the new Miss Teen of Washington at pageant finals on Sunday, June 26.
Horacek, who will be a senior at Battle Ground High School next year and is also a Running Start student at Clark College, said she was first made aware of her eligibility to participate in the pageant in April when she received a postcard in the mail inviting her to apply. When she saw that the winner received a scholarship, she decided to apply, and found out she was accepted a few weeks later.
“I wasn’t really sure how they knew to reach out to me,” Horacek said. “My AP world history teacher had recently told us to sign up for as many scholarships as we could, so I figured maybe that’s how they had found me.”
Horacek’s dad, Brian, said the organization had also reached out to the honor societies at different schools. Since she is a member of the National Honor Society at Battle Ground High School, Horacek said that may have been how the organization knew to contact her.
Horacek ended up competing against four finalists at the pageant for the title of Miss Teen of Washington. The girls were judged in six different categories, including scholastic record; service and achievement to school and community; personal development; general awareness; personality projection and poise in evening wear; and judge’s interview. The first five categories are each worth 15 percent of each contestant’s final score, while the judge’s interview is worth 25 percent.
Prior to participating in the pageant, Horacek also had to go out into the community to businesses, individuals and family members in order to obtain sponsorships to help pay the fee to participate in the pageant, as well as for some other materials needed such as outfits.
As the new Miss Teen of Washington, Horacek receives a $1,000 cash scholarship, a $250 donation toward a Special Olympics inclusion event to be held in her school, and a chance to vie for the Miss Teen of America national title worth more than $20,000 in scholarships and prizes.
At Battle Ground High School, Horacek is captain of the varsity cheerleading team and has lettered four times, and is a member of the Interact Club (a program of Rotary) and a member of the National Honor Society.
The group that Horacek belongs to outside of school, however, is probably the one she’s most proud of. For the past two years during her spring break, Horacek has traveled with her youth group, the Charter Oak Church High School Group, to Tecate, Mexico, to build houses for families in need. Usually about six people at a time make the trek to Mexico, which is about a two-day drive. Horacek said it takes the group about three days to build one house.
In addition to the community service aspect of the trip, Horacek said the spring break adventure also serves as great bonding time for the youth in the high school group. On the way back from Mexico, the group gets to stop in California for a day at the beach or a day at one of the many amusement parks.
During her summer break this year, Horacek is staying busy with a babysitting job three or four times a week, taking care of a 7 year old and a 10 year old. She’s also staying busy with cheerleading practice, and will soon be participating in helping to run one of the mini cheer camps at the high school.
After high school, Horacek plans to attend college, although she is not yet sure where. Currently, she thinks she might want to focus on forensic psychology in college, and said she has always been interested in how people’s minds work. She said her mom, Kim, also went to school for psychology, another reason she’s interested in possibly pursuing a career in that field.
Horacek has one sibling, her 18-year-old brother, Jaeden, who just recently graduated from Battle Ground High School and will be going into the U.S. Air Force.
