As far as Kylie West is concerned, the fifth time’s a charm.
The 18-year-old Highland Village resident and soon-to-be freshman at Abilene Christian University was crowned Miss South Texas Teen at the National American Miss Pageant in June. It was her fifth try in as many years to capture the crown, having previously finished as a runner-up in her previous three pageant attempts. In her first attempt in 2019, she finished in the Top 15.
Ironically, West became so used to hearing her name called as a second or third runner-up that she thought something had gone horribly wrong when the same thing didn’t happen this year. Then her name was called as the winner, and the rest was a blur.
“My first thought was, ‘Oh no. Did I mess up at some point this weekend and not even make Top 5? I thought I did good,’” West said with a relieved laugh. “I don’t typically get my hopes up about anything, so I figured maybe next year. But then they called my name as Miss Texas Teen — I didn’t physically blackout, but I don’t remember much of the crowning moment because of the shock.
“It’s a dream to hold this title. I think it might hit me that I won when they introduce me as visiting royalty at the first pageant I attend.”
If you’re a Texas pageant fan, then you know winning is no easy feat. Thousands of contestants hope to come away with a pageant crown every year, and many ultimately compete multiple times before winning. National American Miss (NAM, which was founded in 2003, has been dubbed America’s No. 1 pageant for girls and young women ages 4 to 24 and actually divided its Texas pageant into two competitions — one in South Texas and the other in North Texas — to accommodate the large number of statewide contestants.
Texas is the only state within NAM’s nationwide pageant circuit that crowns two Miss Texas Teens. West was present at the North Texas event in Dallas in July to congratulate the North Texas pageant winner. It was West’s first public event since winning her crown. NAM helps contestants build confidence and positive self-image, grow and expand their ideas about who they are and what they want to achieve, improve their public speaking skills, and learn the importance of giving back to the communities they represent.
“It’s not all about beauty,” West said. “That’s why we fell in love with what they do for young girls.”
Ironically, West didn’t even know the NAM pageant circuit existed until five years ago. As the story goes, NAM routinely sends out postcards yearly to prospective contestants throughout the state, and West had been consistently receiving them since she was 4 or 5 years old. But her mother, Jennifer West, dismissed the idea as just another pageant with crazy moms, toddlers with tiaras, and an outdated emphasis on who’s the prettiest. So she tossed them in the trash and never said a word.
That is until Kylie was 14. Another postcard came in the mail that year, and this time, Jennifer made a comment to her daughter about receiving another one of those postcards she’d been throwing away for years.
“I said, ‘What do you mean? We should go see what they are all about,’” Kylie said. “So we went, and we absolutely fell in love with it. Just because you get a postcard doesn’t mean you are automatically in. I had to do interviews and eventually became a state finalist. I didn’t know anything about the pageant process when I competed for the first time, but I ended up finishing in the Top 15.”
When West returned for a second try at the crown in 2020, she came armed with a personal platform called Kylie’s Comfort Cases. In this initiative, she distributes satin pillowcases to people all over the country who constantly find themselves between homes. Initially, she focused on children whose parents are divorced. She later expanded to include chemotherapy patients and people experiencing homelessness.
“My parents are separated, and I’d always thought about other kids in the same situation. It’s not easy, and you don’t always know what to do,” she said. “But almost everyone has a pillow and a pillowcase. That’s something that’s always with you. So this is my way of ensuring they always have something to remind them of home.”
As for her future, West said the sky is the limit. She’ll attend ACU in the fall as a theater major and is one of only six girls accepted into that program. She’s also a fourth-generation ACU Wildcat; over 30 of her family members are alums.
In between all of that, she’ll also juggle her new schedule as Miss South Texas Teen. Upon winning, she was automatically entered into the national pageant, which is slated for this Thanksgiving holiday in Orlando, Florida. She’ll also represent NAM as Miss South Texas Teen for the next calendar year and travel to other pageants as visiting royalty.
“Royalty at 18. It sounds weird to say, but I couldn’t be more excited,” West said. “Over the past five years, I’ve always said that if I ever won, I’d take full advantage of the traveling and everything else that comes with the title.”