Susanna Bagwell, junior in math education, was crowned the 2016 Miss Auburn University on Saturday, Oct. 10 at the annual Miss Auburn University pageant held at Auburn High School.
Bagwell’s platform is “Open Hands Overflowing Hearts: Raising Awareness for Childhood Cancer,” and her talent for the evening was “Ragtime," a ballet en pointe performance.
Bagwell received other awards including the Mallory Hagan Talent Award, The Street Family Achievement Award and later tied for Miss Congeniality with Rachel Sprouse, junior in journalism.
As the competition’s winner, Bagwell will be awarded one year resident tuition and fees, and the sum of her other awards is equal to $400 in scholarships.
Meg McGuffin, Miss Alabama 2015 and Miss Auburn University 2014, served as emcee for the night.
McGuffin introduced the contestants and entertained the audience between events. She even joked about her comments regarding Donald Trump at the 2016 Miss America pageant.
“We need some more Auburn women on Fox News … I had a nice phone conversation with Jeb Bush the other day,” McGuffin said. “I felt pretty cool. I can’t lie.”
Throughout the night, the contestants took part in several different portions of the competition including on-stage questions, swimsuit, talent and evening wear competitions and an interview that was held prior to the event.
Jessie Garrison, 2015 Miss Auburn University, also performed several dance numbers between the competitions.
“This experience has taught me so much and has shaped me into the person I am today,” Garrison said. “This is such a great group of talented, beautiful young women.”
Garrison also offered some advice to the 2016 Miss Auburn University.
“Take some time to soak it all in. You have a busy, but absolutely incredible year ahead of you,” Garrison said. “This is your year to truly make a difference in the community around you.”
Walker Byrd, SGA president, weighed in on his pageant experience and joked about how much he’s learned.
“I got to learn a lot about pageants through this,” Byrd said. “I will say that I have learned more about pageants this year than I ever thought I wanted to learn.”
Byrd also said attending Miss Alabama this summer and the Miss America pageant recently to support Auburn women were interesting and fun experiences.
“I learned a lot,” Byrd said. “That’s kind of the super bowl in the pageant world, and I didn’t know that.”
Byrd then thanked the audience for supporting the SGA event and commending the program.
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