On Aug. 30, 2017, The Miss Indian SOSU Pageant was held in the Fine Arts Recital Hall. The pageant was hosted by the Native American Student Association at Southeastern Oklahoma State. NASA was created to teach students about Native American culture.

The pageant was made to select someone as a role model for the Choctaw or Chickasaw nations on and off campus. The scores were tallied based on talent, impromptu questions and overall performance.

NASA member, Christian Potter explained the importance of the pageant. “We choose a person to represent the Natives as a whole and we do that through this pageant.”

The contestants were freshmen, Maribel Aldana, sophomore, Jerai Billy and, sophomore, Faithlyn Seawright. Each contestant showed different characteristics from their culture for their talent. Aldana sung a hymm, Billy told a story and Seawright showed a stomp dance.

NASA President, Thomas Olive, holds strong beliefs about the pageant and the organization.

He said, “It is always great to see people come, even though we do plenty of advertising, it is always hard to get people to join.”

He continued, “We are a dwindling race and culture and I believe if we had someone who people can look to and learn from is important.”

Jerai Billy was first runner up and Faithlyn Seawright was crowned Miss Indian SOSU.

Miss Indian SOSU will be seen at events including homecoming, freshmen orientation and other campus events.

NASA can be found in the Native American Institute on campus.