ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
Clarissa Carrillo’s pageant history seems to be a story of determination and will, as she fought through the challenges of competing while making her way to the top.
Earlier this month, that persistence paid off when she took home the crown of Miss Ad Astra 2024. Formerly known as Miss SWKS and hosted in the Southwest Kansas area, the pageant got a new name and location for this year.
“It got moved to the Kansas City area just to open it up to contestants from the different areas of the state, which makes it great because you get to meet more people, but also scary,” Carrillo said. “You have competition from all parts of the state.”
Carrillo had previously competed in Miss SWKS three times and also in Liberal’s Miss Cinco de Mayo a few others, and after finishing highly in those pageants, she felt determined to push on to the next level. She added “Ad Astra,” the Kansas motto meaning “to the stars,” added to that determination.
“We need to continue to push to become a better version of ourselves,” she said. “We can shoot for the stars. It helps to continue to dream and not give up.”
So despite many questions after her third time competing in the pageant, Carrillo was determined to take part one more time.
“Should I do it one more time? What are people going to think?” she said. “My fears came into play, and I kept thinking maybe I should give up. I shouldn’t do it.”
Carrillo said determination likewise played a part in her choice of mental health as her platform.
“That includes anxiety, depression, so many emotions,” she said. “Emotions are not bad, but at times, some emotions can hold us back or can push for us to pause our lives.”
Carrillo said she herself has struggled with anxiety and depression, and this helped her in her decision to take part in the Miss Ad Astra pageant.
“Having the courage to take this opportunity, I decided if I go back, let’s make sure I focus on something I am passionate about and something I do want to create awareness,” she said.
Carrillo said in public, many people saw her with a smile on her face, and they would think she had a great life. As part of her mental health platform, though, she said wants to create awareness and remind people life does not have to be perfect.
“Some people might seem to be happy all the time,” she said. “That’s not what is happening. It’s okay for us to have our emotions, and it’s okay if sometimes we get stuck in those emotions. We can reach out for help. It can be to our friends. There are a lot of resources available in our community such as Genesis Family Health, which has therapists on staff.”
Carrillo said both youth and adults deal with depression, anxiety and other mental illnesses.
“There’s never an age when we say we’re not going to have an issue with mental health,” she said.
For this reason, Carrillo feels it is important to create awareness that it is okay to ask for help.
“It’s okay to reach out to people or professionals, but also create the awareness of the resources we have available,” she said.
Through her own journey as she decided to compete in this year’s Miss Ad Astra pageant, Carrillo began to explore the mental health resources available in the Liberal community.
“I got to learn about mental health first aid,” she said. “I went through a training session that helps identify depression symptoms in the youth and knowing how to be a first responder, not necessarily giving a diagnosis, but helping and encouraging youth to reach out for help if they’re feeling trapped with their emotions.”
In the spirit of perseverance, Carrillo said she decided it was important to not give up, continue to push herself to get better and create awareness for others not to give up either.
“Determination is always key, things will get better,” she said.
When she heard she had become this year’s Miss Ad Astra, Carrillo naturally felt many emotions, including surprise. She said her focus on becoming better has particularly been concentrated on the interview portion of the pageant process and becoming a better communicator.
“For me personally, that’s always been a goal – to be a better communicator and feel more confident,” she said.
Carrillo said she took the time to prepare herself through practice, readying herself mentally for what she had to do in the pageant.
“My goal was do good in the interviews,” she said. “Make it to at least top six. When I made it to top six and I got to do my statement, which included mental health and giving that message to the audience, I feel proud of myself for that moment, and I feel proud of having to take the step again and not let my fears stop me from doing it one more time.”
Carrillo would make it passed that portion of the pageant and into the top three, and she said at that point, she would be happy with whatever results would happen.
“When you go into a competition like this that is open to the whole state, every girl was beautiful,” she said. “All the girls had excellent skills. They were talented.”
In the top three, Carrillo said she was not ready for the question and answer category, but she pressed on and made it to the top two. Initially in the pageant’s final moments, she felt she was destined to be runner-up as she had been in previous pageants, but fortune smiled on the Liberal resident.
“At that moment, I’m like what is happening, and when they announced the winner and they said Liberal, part of me was like are they saying Liberal as first runner-up,” she said. “I was actually congratulating Miss Lawrence. She’s like ‘No turn around.’ When I saw them coming my way with the crown, I was in shock. It was definitely exciting, and I was very grateful.”
After getting the crowned, Carrillo said she had a reality check, knowing her perseverance had finally paid off.
“Determination can take you a long ways,” she said.
Now 31, Carrillo first participated in Miss SWKS at the age of 24, and she had initial difficulties with the pageant.
“I went there not knowing a single thing about pageants, not even knowing how to walk in heels,” she said. “I went in because I wanted to better myself and work on some insecurities, especially when it came to public speaking. That’s always been one of my biggest fears.”
Carrillo would go on to finish in the top eight of her first pageant, and at that moment, she felt proud and wanted to continue competing. She competed twice more in Miss SWKS, this year in Miss Ad Astra and five times in Miss Cinco de Mayo.
In the Cinco de Mayo pageant, Carrillo would finish first runner-up twice, and she said she wanted to compete at least once when she felt completely present in the moment.
“When you do a pageant, it’s not just looking pretty and walking in heels,” she said. “There’s a lot of emotions, a lot of reflecting, and a lot of things are going through your mind. One of them, of course, is do not fall, but there’s so many other things that are happening.”
Prior to Miss Ad Astra, Carrillo said she felt panicked and nervous in her other pageants, something she did not want to feel with this month’s pageant.
“There’s so many things that would happen,” she said. “It would end, and I was like ‘What? It already happened?’ I wanted to get to the point where I was at least experiencing a time where I was present and completely absorbing the moment and enjoying it to the max.”
Carrillo said she spent much time mentally preparing herself for Miss Ad Astra.
“I’m going to give the best I can, and I want to be present and accept whatever God and life wants to bring,” she said. “I went with the mentality of being more relaxed, more calm, not expecting it, and then it happened. Life is interesting.”
Carrillo said pageants can be a competition, but for her, they are more of a competition with herself.
“I recognize there were so many different things I had to work on,” she said.
Carrillo said she unquestionably wanted to work on her public speaking, interviews and communication before she took part in Miss Ad Astra.
“I started to better myself, and after I did the first one, I realized I had more things to work on, especially my mentality,” she said.
For Carrillo, no experience is a failure, but rather a lesson learned, and as she has continued through her pageant journey, she likewise has continued to see improvement.
“I continued to recognize things I had to work on,” she said. “It’s become how can I improve. How can I become better? That’s what pushed me to get to this point and actually bring a crown home.”
A big motivation for Carrillo is continued improvement, and she also wants to work on her own insecurities and continue to show everyone they do not have to be perfect.
“It’s all about making progress,” she said.
Carrillo said everyone has their own unique beauty, and she wants to use her battle with her own insecurities and challenges as a lesson to others.
“I want to be that example for others to know if I was able to do it, they can do it too,” she said.
For Carrillo, though, she said the biggest thing she learned through competing in Miss Ad Astra is determination, which she said will take a person far in life. However, she is unsure of her future in pageants.
“For this year, I have a title,” she said. “There’s a lot more work to do, to continue to get involved in the community, create that awareness through good things with the crown and title, but I also hope in the future as I complete my year as Miss Ad Astra to later become a coach or some sort of mentor to other participants, to other girls in their community.”
Carrillo did say while she looks to continue taking part in pageants, it will more than likely be in a different role.
“It’s really working on some of those leadership skills,” she said. “I want to make sure I am also a mentor to others just like I had mentors in my own life. I also want to be that for the youth as I continue. I don’t know if I’ll do another pageant, at least not for now. In the future, I do hope I can become a mentor for others to push and learn they do have a talent and the skills to accomplish what they want.”
When she began competing at 24, Carrillo said many felt she was too old to start taking part in pageants. Since then, however, she said the rules have changed, and she does not look to stop taking part in the process anytime soon.
“As humans, we never stop learning or improving,” she said. “There are always opportunities we can take. You never stop learning, and there’s always room for you to improve. I was glad I was able to take advantage.”
Carrillo said this was likely her last year to be able to qualify for a pageant under the age requirements, and this was another motivation for her to compete in this year’s Miss Ad Astra.
“If I can do it one more year, why not?” she said. “We’ll see what the future brings, but for sure, I will continue to work and improve myself. You never stop learning.”
