EDITORIAL: Congrats to Miss McAlester and Outstanding Teen
Jul. 17—Congratulations to Kylie Martin and Aubrey Bailey for becoming the next representatives of our community.
Kylie won the 2023 Miss McAlester crown during Saturday's competition and Aubrey became the Miss McAlester Outstanding Teen.
Both will represent the McAlester area this coming year after winning their respective titles amid an outstanding group of young women from our community.
Kylie, a McAlester High School graduate and Oklahoma State University freshman, told us she is grateful for the opportunity to give back to her community.
"I want try to do as much as possible with the town," Martin said after the competition. "They've raised me. It takes a village and I want to give back to my village and represent them well at Miss Oklahoma."
We applaud Kylie for her gratitude toward our community and for showing an interest in giving back to make it thrive.
It's that kind of attitude that helps us all continue to build on momentum in giving our community a bright future.
Kylie, Aubrey and all the contestants in the 2023 Miss McAlester and Miss McAlester's Outstanding Teen competition showed that same determination and a variety of skills that give us more hope in our community's future.
The local competition is affiliated with Miss Oklahoma and Miss America and is required to give one scholarship to the winner — but offers one to everyone who competes.
Competitors at this year's local competition received $24,100 in scholarships, $6,100 in cash scholarships and $18,300 in tuition waivers from nine Oklahoma colleges and universities.
The program's mission is to help young women continue to grow into our future community leaders, and support them in their future endeavors through scholarships — and it does that every year.
We applaud all of the candidates for showing courage to go on stage and present themselves to judges and the audience in several categories.
And we look forward to what the next year has in store for our Miss McAlester and Miss McAlester Outstanding Teen.
—McAlester News-Capital Editorial Board
