Ulyssa Easley was crowned Miss National City 2021 on July 10 in a contest she almost didn’t enter. The win, she said, didn’t seem real until her first crowned walk.
“I became princess in 2019 and for this year, at first I was indecisive about whether or not I wanted to run but I’m glad I decided to go for it,” Easley said.
Repeatedly, the 21-year old Southwestern College student describes herself as shy.
“There is a lot of public speaking, opportunities you don’t think about, certain events we go to where you have to talk more than you would think. I used to be really quiet and often cut my answers short, thought if I talked too much I would run on but in this process, the coordinators let me know that it was okay,” Easley said.
Coming in as a contestant back in 2018, she said, she was nervous the other participants might be mean “but they turned out to be really nice” and even though she didn’t come in first that year, she was proud of herself for getting out of her comfort zone.
Although there were earlier iterations of the modern day beauty contests and accompanying educational pageants, many based on the original 1921 Atlantic City Inter-City Beauty Contest, Easley said the National City educational pageant is different from what some people might imagine, focusing on character.
The contest is open each year to National City residents between the ages of 17 and 24 who are currently in school and plan to further their education. The young lady who is crowned queen receives a $1,000 scholarship at the end of her reign; the first and second princess receive $750 and $500 respectively, to be used for higher education.
“I definitely think this program will start to pick up more when people realize it’s not how you look on the outside, it’s about how you answer questions. Obviously, this is something I’d never done before so I came in thinking it would be about looks and it turned out to be more about how present to judges, how to be a good public speaker,” Easley said.
This year, there was the added challenge of competing during a pandemic— contestants submitted videos of proposed community projects. Easley shared her plan to organize events for children with special needs, based on an event she remembered from the 2019 Kimball Holiday.
“I want to give them the same opportunity at events as other kids,” Easley said.
She also plans to use her new platform to encourage residents into community participation.
“I tell friends what I do: this event, that event and many times, they’ve never heard about the events before. Oftentimes, people don’t know about the movies in the park, National Night Out, Kimball Holiday.
I want to get everyone more involved,” Easley said.
The busy Easley, who is a full-time student and works part-time in addition to upholding her community service duties as Miss National City, said she works hard at time management. Prior to the pandemic, she would push herself without taking a break but realized she had to take care of herself.
“I’m very grateful I was gifted a planner from one of the coordinators,” she said, laughing.
