YUCCA VALLEY — Audrey Grady, a Yucca Valley High School student-athlete who hopes to study physics and engineering in college, was crowned Miss Yucca Valley Saturday night in the Joshua Springs Christian School gym.
Grady received the tiara and robe from Rachel Gibbs, the 2024 winner, who promised a year of transformational experiences was ahead.
“As I stand here tonight, I am filled with gratitude and appreciate for this incredible journey. This experience has been nothing short of life-changing,” Gibbs said before passing on the crown.
Acacia Smith won the title of first princess. Smith serves on the town youth commission and wants to become a film writer and director.
Alyssa Ramos was crowned second princess. A Trojan softball player also working on her Associate of Science degree, Ramos wants to earn a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and become a travel nurse after high school.
Third princess is Sofia Gonzalez, an honor roll student at Yucca Valley High School who is also taking classes at Copper Mountain College. She hopes to become an attorney.
The program is sponsored by the Yucca Valley Rotary Club and overseen by John Babrowski, who meets with the contestants at practices and study groups.
Members of the 2024 court mentored the girls as well.
“Miss Yucca Valley is more than just a title,” Gibbs said. “It is a community, a legacy and a stepping stone for young women to find their abilities and their confidence.”
Eleven high school juniors competed for the title, starting five months ago as they began studying the book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teenagers” and volunteering at local events. Each girl also interviewed a woman in the community.
At the pageant, they performed a group dance, walked with family escorts in formal gowns answered questions based on “Seven Habits” and read personal essays.
Each girl told some of her background and motivations for joining the competition in her personal essay.
Grady talked about her drive to get high grades while struggling with self-doubt, and said the Miss Yucca Valley program helped.
“It taught me how to step out of my comfort zone, which improved my self-confidence,” she said.
“My mom and sister always told me I would go on to great things. I never really believed them. But now I am going to do everything I can to achieve my dreams and make everyone proud of me, including me.”
Several of the girls talked about trying to overcome shyness or anxiety.
“I decided that my junior year, I was going to expand and grow out of the bubble that I had kept myself in since I was very young,” Journey Reeves-Pope said.
Smith said she found a close group of friends after being “bullied and left out” during elementary school, only to grow depressed during the pandemic closures.
“And through that shroud of darkness, I touched something inside my soul that I wasn’t even aware had been there: a love for storytelling.”
She wrote daily, held weekly writers’ rooms with her friends and is now a published poet.
Others talked about childhoods in foster care and learning to trust.
“My story begins when I was placed in foster care as an infant,” said Kalea Powell. “Eventually, I got placed with the kindest woman, who I call my mom.”
She had six older siblings and became an older sister to four. “I look forward to helping my little sister one day with her speech for this program and I hope it will make the same impact for her that it has done for me.”
Ramos said she had trouble recovering from the trauma of her experiences in her birth family and foster care, even after she was adopted by her uncle and aunt.
“This feeling of overwhelming fear, abandonment and never feeling as if you were enough will end with me,” she said.
“I can’t fix the foster care system, but I can help others feel seen.”
She will graduate high school with her associate’s degree and plans to transfer to a Bachelor of Science program and become a registered nurse..
Ramos said God helped wash away her fears; she was among several of the girls who shared about their Christian faith.
“My relationship with God is one of the most important aspects in my life that I cherish deeply,” Vanessa Cifuentes said. “During my darkest moments, he has been by my side, patient and understanding — never given up on me.”
Their pageant night performances were judged by San Bernardino County Fire Chief Dan Munsey, former Miss Yucca Valley Megan Nielson-Garcia, county Sheriff’s Department and Joshua Springs chaplain Mike “Grumpy” Kelliher and Joshua Springs Christian School administrative assistant Debi Wagner.
Those judges’ opinions Saturday night determined 30% of each girl’s final score. Their written essays, work and demeanor before the pageant and interviews with a panel of four more judges made up the rest of the score.
The contestants voted for Cifuentes as Miss Congeniality. The essay judges chose Anya Yakimow as winner of the Sheldon and Tara Hough Essay Award. In her essay, Yakimow shared how as a youngest sibling, she had to learn to find her own path .
“This program has taught me how to go out of my comfort zone. It has also taught me many habits to be the best person I can be,” Yakimow wrote.
Kaya Moreno was named Miss Photogenic.
The court members will receive scholarships from the Rotary: up to $2,000 for Miss Yucca Valley, $1,500 for the first princess, $1,000 for the second princess and $800 for the third princess.
They will volunteer at Rotary and town events throughout the next year. Members of the 2024 court said they could expect to learn a lot and form close friendships.
“Not only was I given the opportunity to get deeply engaged with my community, but I learned valuable lessons and made friendships that will last a lifetime,” said Mackenzie Johnson, second princess in the 2024 court.
“I hope that this program will continue for generations.”