WAILEA–Sophomore Gabrielle Constantino took home the title of Miss Aloha Valley Isle Outstanding Teen 2016 at the Four Seasons Resort last Saturday, Oct. 17.

“I did it because it offers scholarships, and I want to go to college, and it’s a great way to be a role model in the community,” she said.

The Maui scholarship pageant was a stepping stone to a larger Miss Hawaiʻi’s Outstanding Teen pageant on Oʻahu, which gives high school girls aged 14-17 an opportunity for $10,000 in scholarship money. Every contestant receives a $2,000 scholarship for advancing to the state pageant.

Constantino heard of the pageant through Facebook in early September and decided to sign up. After completing the application process, she began practicing and rehearsing with the other contestants for the competition.

“We had a huge application, an essay, and a resume to write. It was difficult to get done on top of school work,” she said.

Constantino was one of three contestants who competed for the Maui title. Originally, the competition began with almost 10 contestants but as the pageant grew nearer, many dropped out. Constantino said that she did not know their reasons.

Constantino gushed that the first part of the competition was her favorite.

“We danced to Like Mariah by Fifth Harmony. This was my favorite part because it was the only time all the contestants were on stage together,” she said.

The 5-hour competition consisted of five categories:

1. Interview: Seven judges evaluated the girls and asked about their platform.
2. Platform: The girls were evaluated on how they help and plan to help the community.
3. Lifestyle and fitness
4. Talent: Constantino sang and played ʻukulele to E Pili Mai.
5. Formalwear: Constantino wore a “rusty/nude” gown from Girls Heaven on Lower Main Street.

For her platform, Constantino told about her passion in working with the Hawaiʻi Meth Project and explained how it’s a good way to share useful information. She helped at their informational booth at the Maui Fair last month and recruited other teen volunteers as well.

“I wasn’t nervous because I know a lot about my platform, and it’s something I’m very passionate about, so it makes it easy to talk to people about,” she said, “I want to get more teens involved [in the anti-meth movement] because it’s a good way to spread awareness and have more community involvement.”

Constantino said she felt confident that she could win the title because of the time she spent on and efforts she put into this pageant; however, she became worried when she encountered problems during her talent portion.

“I never got to practice with microphones before I performed for everyone, and there ended up being lots of sound problems,” she said.

Thankfully, those mishaps did not affect the overall outcome.

With her new trophy, sash, crown, and roses, Maui’s newest Miss Aloha Valley Isle Outstanding Teen celebrated her title at Zippy’s restaurant with her family after the competition.

Constantino has begun researching material to use for her next talent portion in the larger upcoming competition.

“I really want to do a Jake Shimabukuro song,” she said, “Leading up to the competition, [and] I plan to create lots of community events to talk about my platform.”

The Miss Hawai’i’s Outstanding Teen 2016 pageant is scheduled to take place in May.