Miss Missouri Sophia Dominguez-Heithoff won the title
Indian American Jaanu Patel, from Huntington Beach, California, made it to the top five in Miss Teen USA 2017, which was won by Miss Missouri Sophia Dominguez-Heithoff on Saturday.
The event was held at Phoenix Symphony Hall in Arizona and the 16-year-old Miss California Teen USA finished as the 4th Runner Up of the championship.
Patel is a high school student who aspires to become a pediatrician. Currently, she volunteers with Kaiser Permanente’s maternity ward. She has been a Bollywood Dancer for 13 years and loves the connection it gives to her Indian heritage.
She is also president of a volunteer outreach program through that she has organized projects for homeless, elderly, orphans and people with disabilities.
“I feel like beauty is having a sense of pride in completing your goals,” Patel told Los Angeles Times when she was crowned Miss California Teen USA 2017 in December 2016. “It’s a form of respect in how you represent yourself to the world. But you’re not going to be somebody unless you complete the goals you set for yourself.”
Jaanu Patel has traveled to 15 countries, spread over six of seven continents and recently went to Montreal, Canada, for an International Model United Nations Conference that sparked her desire to promote self-acceptance for women and children all around the world.
This was the first time Patel was competing in a nationwide beauty pageant, and she was not at all expected a victory in the state competition, the reports read.
#MissTeenUSA: It gives us wings. pic.twitter.com/kZAEmANtA6
— Miss Teen USA (@MissTeenUSA) July 30, 2017
Dominguez-Heithoff, who won the title, beat out 51 contestants including Patel and impressed the audience and judges alike as she explained about her efforts to lobby the Missouri legislature to pass a law to aid adults with developmental disabilities.
This is the moment dreams are made of. #MissTeenUSA pic.twitter.com/AL2bqwHXTs
— Miss Teen USA (@MissTeenUSA) July 30, 2017
Vanessa Matheson of Oregon has won the 1st Runner-Up title followed by Miss Indiana Paige Robinson and Nevada’s Alexis Smith.