KPU student runs for national pageant competition

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Second year Kwantlen Polytechnic University political science student Suhana Kaur Gill is running for Miss Teenage Canada, an annual personality and beauty pageant for women between the ages of  14 to 17. 

Women across the country compete provincially to be one of the over 70 selected finalists to compete for the Miss Teenage Canada crown in Toronto. The winner then gets to move onto the International Miss Teen competition. Contestants not only compete to look the best in their gowns, but are also judged on personality and attitude, fundraising, and votes from the community. 

This isn’t the first pageant for the 17-year-old as she won the Miss T Southern B.C. title in April. 

“I enjoy it more than I thought I would have,” Gill says. “How many times in life do you get to wear a big gown?” 

Each contestant has to pick an organization to do a fundraising campaign. For Gill, she chose Make-A-Wish Canada, a non-profit that helps raise funds and makes the wishes of children with critical illnesses come true. Her goal was $1,110 and has raised $1,570. 

“It is such an important part of every child’s childhood memory to have witnessed their dream come true,” Gill wrote in a follow up statement to The Runner. 

The Kwantlen Student Association donated $1,500 towards her fundraiser. Gill says that students from her political science class told her to reach out to the KSA to see if they would make a donation. 

“There’s this common myth [that] beauty pageants are all about outer beauty … but it really matters what’s on the inside,” she says. “If you have a good heart [and are] intelligent and educated about various topics in the world, you will do well.” 

Before Gill got started in beauty pageants, it wasn’t something that she thought about doing. Her mom and aunt wanted her to pursue it as they didn’t have the opportunity to do so in India. 

Gill not only graduated high school and started post-secondary early, but also created non-profit organization Bluer & Greener using her voice to advocate against climate change. 

If she wins Miss Teenage Canada, she hopes to make her community proud and continue her advocacy on climate change and other issues she cares about like self-confidence.  

“My other goal is to make sure I can find ways I can help youth have confidence in themselves because we’re in a generation full of such intelligent people. However, sometimes we doubt ourselves because of social media,” Gill says. 

“I want to show youth that they’re unique in their own ways and that they can, whatever they put their mind to, achieve anything in life.” 

Gill is already doing this by using her Instagram as a voice and collaborating with influencers, talking on radio stations about confidence, and working with local organization Yo Bro Yo Girl to discuss these issues and more to youth.  

She also hopes to win the pageant to reclaim the crown to B.C.

“We haven’t ever won the crown in Surrey, and so I hope to make my community proud for putting the crown back in B.C.,” she says. 

By competing in the provincial and soon the national pageant, Gill sees the skills she’s learned being used in her political science degree at KPU. 

“It’s a platform where you get to not only empower others, but feel empowered. You get to show what you have to offer the community … what you believe in, and what changes you want to see,” Gill says. 

After graduating from KPU, she hopes to go to law school to then get a job within Surrey’s municipal government. 

The votes for Miss Teenage Canada ends on July 28 at 8:00 pm EST and those with the most will enter into the top 12. 

Students interested in learning more about Gill and making a donation can visit her Instagram.