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Felton '17 Wins Miss DC Teen USA Title
Ever since Karis Felton '17 was a young child, she saw herself competing in pageants. Today she is not only competing in them but winning them.
Felton was crowned Dec. 17 as Miss DC Teen USA 2017 at the Renaissance Washington hotel, and she will represent the District of Columbia this summer in the Miss Teen USA pageant.
The victory culminated a year of training for the NCS senior. Felton said that she'd set her sights on Miss DC Teen USA after attending last year's pageant. That launched her into months of preparation—much of it done on her own, since her coach is based in Florida.
"I was the kind of kid who did lots of sports: I did ice skating, I did basketball, I did karate," Felton said. "I did so many things, but nothing really stuck. When I did pageants, I realized this is my thing. This is what I enjoy. This is my sport."
Just as with sports, Felton's training starts with physical fitness, so that by the time the competition began, "my body was in the best shape it had ever been."
That brought her confidence, she said. "My past pageants, I used to get so scared and nervous. This pageant, I was surprisingly calm. I knew that I had really worked for it."
Felton won Miss Photogenic and Best Interview at the D.C. pageant, and she highlighted the latter award as a particular point of pride: "It's my favorite area of competition. I feel it shows more about me as a person than just what I look like."
She also said her interview segments benefit from her instruction at NCS. "Just the environment that we're in fosters being a well-rounded, well-spoken person," she said. "You can't come to NCS and not be well-spoken."
Although Felton had long enjoyed watching pageants, she didn't start competing until she was 14. She won Miss Junior Teen Maryland United States in 2015 before taking last year off to focus on college applications.
She acknowledges that the stereotype of beauty pageants endures, but she counters that today's contests are much more about being an "all-around girl, the girl that everyone feels that they can relate to."
"My friends are so much more accepting of it than I thought they would be," Felton said. "People have taken the time to learn."
The duties of being Miss DC Teen USA include making appearances, including one later this month with USO Operation That's My Dress, which helps the daughters of service members find the prom dress of their dreams.
The primary duty, though, is competing for Miss Teen USA. The pageant is months away, but Felton says she is ready: "I've always told my parents that I would like to be the first person to win Miss Teen USA, Miss USA, and Miss Universe."
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Karis Felton '17, Miss DC Teen USA 2017
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Felton is crowned by the woman she succeeds as Miss DC Teen USA, Dylan Murphy.
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