BUCYRUS, OH (CRAWFORD COUNTY NOW)—When you meet Cassandra Kurek, you might be curious about the small case she carries. Inside, a tiara is prominently displayed, but don’t mistake this as a symbol of entitlement. The tiara carries with it a wealth of responsibility.

When she isn’t serving as a state spokesperson for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and The Salvation Army, or attending her weekly voice lessons, or studying & cheering at Ohio Northern University, Kurek is preparing for her next event.

“In 2019, I competed for Miss Ohio’s Outstanding Teen and won that title in 2022,” said Kurek. “Then, I took a year-long break and worked on my college applications and auditions since I’m a musical theater major. And I ended up competing this year for Miss America Teen Volunteer for the first time.”

“The organization is nationally partnered with St. Jude’s and the Salvation Army,” she explained, “and a lot of the focus during your year is promoting their missions.”

When speaking with her, you can tell that Kurek takes a great deal of pride in her duties. To prepare for the national competition, she added to her already demanding schedule.

“You compete in a 6-minute interview; you do a fitness & wellness portion of competition, where show off how you live your life; and then they have a talent competition, which is a minute and thirty seconds of whatever you choose to do. I chose to sing.”

The pageant concludes with an evening gown competition. Kurek explained, “It’s not really about the gown, it’s more about how you walk in the gown. The gown is just supposed to be there to represent your own personal style and who you are.” 

Kurek’s process of preparation is an exercise in time management and resourcefulness.

“It’s something that I’ve learned over the years,” said Kurek, “sometimes you can walk in and it works out really well. But the way that you can feel the most comfortable during competition, is by practicing everything. 

I did mock interviews every Sunday with a different panel of judges … even if I was coming from working a princess party down in Columbus, taking thirty minutes to run [the interview] a couple of times just helped me polish up some of the loose ends. 

And I’m fortunate enough that I’m a dance minor. So, I have access to dance studios all the time.

I would get up at 6 a.m., go into the studio to work on stuff for my classes and our upcoming production of Hello, Dolly!, but I would [also] take a little bit of time to walk through ‘Evening Gown’ in heels, to walk through ‘Fitness’ in the tennis shoes. Every morning when I was there to work on my dance stuff, I would also take time to focus on that.”

Preparing for the talent competition was “the easiest thing to fit into the schedule,” Kurek said, “because I already spent an hour every day working on different techniques and songs.

I like to record everything … when you’re singing to yourself, it sounds different than what it actually sounds like to an audience. I was singing [my song] with the Ohio Northern Orchestra at the same time so it worked out.” 

Keeping such a grueling schedule requires a disciplined approach and a lot of perspective, especially when the results are read. In this year’s pageant, Kurek finished in the Top 10. 

“I never go in with any expectations or goals related to winning,” said Kurek. “I always set two goals for myself. One is that I want to have fun. I want to walk away with good memories, that I made connections with people, and I didn’t isolate myself for the sake of a competition.

The other goal is that I want to walk away with no regrets over anything that I did. That was something with nationals that I was really proud of. Going into finals, I was happy with everything that I did. There was nothing I would change about the experience … whatever the outcome is, I’m happy with everything, and that’s just an added bonus.

So, I always tell people when they’re getting ready to compete that setting goals outside of winning, whatever they are, is something that’s really important because that’s how you can walk away and feel accomplished regardless.”

One of the most important benefits of accomplishment is self-actualization, and Kurek offers some profound advice for young women who are thinking about entering a pageant.

“You have to know your best qualities,” she said, “what you bring to the table, because in the end, that’s what’s going to help you remember your worth, and it’s also going to help you find out what sets you apart, what makes you individually you.

I always tell everybody, ‘Take the leap.’ Honestly, when I started, I had no intention of enjoying it or doing it for years.

Regardless of whether you end up wanting to pursue pageants further, you walk away with so many friendships and so many connections with people, and those connections are lifelong.”

As Cassandra Kurek departs for her next event, she carries her small case with confidence, the tiara inside sparkling, on her way to another leap.