It was a shock. She couldn’t realize it was her name announced as: “Miss Black Illinois 2014.” Her father teared up and her mother proudly yelled, “It’s my baby! My baby!” It all happened Oct. 19 when Mariah Scott, a 20-year-old junior studying broadcast journalism at DePaul, was crowned Miss Black Illinois 2014.

Growing up, Scott was always into sports and never saw herself as a pageant person, but family was very important. From a family of five, Scott’s role models are her grandmother and mom.

“My grandmother was a phenomenal woman and my mom is the strongest woman I’ve ever known, and I guess that inspired me,” Scott said.

Scott’s mother pushed for the importance of education and community involvement from an early age. She is very passionate about education, the youth, and art being incorporated into the school curriculum. At DePaul, Scott is the president of Speaking Out as Unified Leaders (SOUL), a program that teaches creative writing and public speaking to middle school-aged children in Chicago Public Schools.

“I always had a passion for giving back to my community,” Scott said.

As she’s gotten older, she’s found her passion with education, specifically incorporating arts into the curriculum.

“People say we need to fix our educational system, but I say our educational system needs to be redefined,” Scott said.

Her passion led Scott into the pageant, as urged by Miss Black Illinois 2013 Cortnee R. Smith.

“There is something in you and I see it,” Scott recalled Smith telling her.

Scott put much time and energy into the competition, specifically with her performance of a spoken word piece about gun violence. Told in the form of a letter from a young girl to her father, the poem asked why the young girl was alive while someone her age was dead, and evoked strong emotions from the crowd during the pageant.

“Yes, anyone can win, but I want to be remembered,” Scott said, thinking the same thing as she performed her poem.

The Miss Black USA Scholarship Pageant Foundation, Inc. is a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide young women of color with personal, professional, academic and scholarship opportunities. Scott will now compete in the Miss Black USA 2014 pageant.

Scott said she is convinced, however, that most important aspect is knowing the level of impact she has on someone’s life and translating that into a boost in that person’s self-confidence.

“You have to make appearances and let people know what you stand for,” Scott said. “It is a way more than just beauty.”