Winning Three Local Pageants Sparks Big Dreams

Ambition burned bright and early for Genevieve Vallejo.

Genevieve was three years old when she went to her first beauty pageant. It was a local Mercedes pageant and Genevieve was there to support a cousin participating in the event. From the start, the lights, stage and competition intrigued her and got her to thinking.

“I want to be up there,’’ she recalled thinking. “I want to do this.’’

And she would – many times – starting with entering and winning Little Miss Mercedes at the age of seven. Genevieve with the support of her parents – Nancy and Adan Valllejo – embarked on the pageant experience across the area and state, and eventually, entering pageants in Florida and Las Vegas. Genevieve had seen her share of successes in winning or placing among the top spots in numerous statewide and national pageants when she vied to be Junior Miss Mercedes in the 2018 competition.

Genevieve would not win that local pageant, saying she didn’t even place among the final group of finalists, and the hurt of the loss went deep.

“I took it really hard,’’ she recalled.

Her initial thought was to forego future local pageants, but the hometown pull had Genevieve entering the Junior Miss Mercedes pageant in 2019. It was a mix of excitement and nerves and trying to prepare herself should she fall short again. She didn’t. Winning Junior Miss Mercedes was a thrill and let loose plenty of emotions. The girl who often kept her composure in pageants elsewhere cried tears of joy in winning a hometown event.

It demonstrated how much Mercedes means to Genevieve in representing her community.

Biggest Goals

There was a more ultimate hometown goal that came to mind after winning the Junior Miss Mercedes competition.

Genevieve now had the Junior Miss title to add to the Little Miss Mercedes honor she won years before. The last big one on the local level was winning the Miss Mercedes title when she got to her high school years. A win there would mean a trio of victories – Little Miss, Junior Miss, Miss Mercedes – and would make Genevieve the first girl to ever win all three local titles.

“My ultimate goal,’’ she said of winning the title of Miss Mercedes.

Genevieve would enter that competition in 2023 as an experienced entrant of many pageants who had also been mentored in a McAllen modeling agency. She used that training to model at large department stores and youth clothing stores. Still, she knew from her 2018 experience of falling short in the Junior Miss Mercedes event that victory is never assured.

The big night arrived – April 22 – and the Mercedes High School junior was as ready as she could be to achieve her dream of being Miss Mercedes. This would mark her one opportunity to do so. The evening progressed. Genevieve made it to the final group of finalists – and then the big announcement. Genevieve Vallejo was named Miss Mercedes 2023.

“It was very emotional,’’ she said. “This is the biggest one I could have won.’’

Genevieve will graduate from high school in a year and will have the three local pageant titles in her portfolio to go with an associate’s degree in biology as a dual enrollment student. From there, her aspirations are to attend an Ivy League university and start the educational and training process to become a medical doctor in oncology. Genevieve will take with her a deep pride in her hometown and a spirit of community service she plans to continue through her own nonprofit venture.

“She has been in the public eye since she was five years old,’’ Nancy Vallejo said of her daughter. “She has always been mature for her age and real ambitious.’’

A little girl’s dream has been achieved and now going into young adulthood, Genevieve Vallejo will seek new ones, poised and ready to aim even higher with her hometown’s support.

• Ricardo D. Cavazos
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