High schooler Brynn McKinney said she hopes to further her platform on mental health in college
By KRYSTAL NURSE
The Sun
Gloucester Catholic High School student Brynn McKinney shined on stage as she was named Miss New Jersey Outstanding Teen for 2019.
The 15-year-old said she wasn’t interested in the scholarship competition at first until she was watching a girl do a dance routine in her dance class, and her instructor noticed how intrigued McKinney was in the routine and what the girl was doing. She added the instructor contacted her mother, Laurie, and provided her with mentors to enter in the competition.
On Jan. 27, McKinney was crowned as the winner. Pageant records show McKinney’s talent and interview portions placed her at the top.
“Being up there and being with one of my closest friends was amazing, and when they announced my name I was so shocked and I’m super grateful,” said McKinney. “It was surreal.”
She added she’s been singing since she was 9 or 10 years old, but stopped to focus on dancing until about a year ago when she suffered her third concussion and switched back to singing.
As far as her interview portion, she said she was nervous at first, but realized the judges look for someone who is natural and well-spoken. She later added she began to laugh with them and started to have a conversation.
“After my year I would only be 16 at the time, and I wouldn’t be old enough to compete for Miss America (required to be 18 and a graduating senior), but I want to focus on my platform,” said McKinney. “I want to create awareness on my platform and hopefully go to college on the scholarship.”
The teenager said her platform is on anxiety and mental health and it meant something special to her as she’s been living with anxiety since she was 10 years old. She previously sought to further her community service project, “Brynn’s Boxes of Hope,” where she collected gently used or new clothing and toiletries for nearby nonprofits, but shifted her focus to “connect and give some experience in dealing with anxiety and coping mechanism to other girls.”
The platform is named “You and Me, Worry Free…Fighting Anxiety” and in it, McKinney said that she’s become a mental health advocate.
The teen said she has videos circulating on Facebook where she discusses what life is like with anxiety, and offers tips to her friends and classmates on how to relieve stress. She said she occasionally speaks to groups of people about it.
She hopes to attend college for psychology to “help people on a more professional level in the same way I was helped.”
For teenagers interested in Miss New Jersey’s pageant system, McKinney added they should compete to try something new and to advocate for whatever they feel strongly about. More information for prospective competitors can be found at www.MissNewJersey.net.
