A financial donation by Mayor Wayne Smith enabled an Irvington resident to compete in the statewide pageant for National American Miss, held August 19-21, 2006 at the East Brunswick Hilton Hotel.

 

Sixteen-year-old Saifah McCollum, a senior at Irvington High School, was one of three from the township in a pool of about 200 young ladies competing for the state title. “I was overwhelmed when I found out I had actually made it (to the state level),” according to McCollum, who recalled watching beauty pageants on TV as a little girl. “It was a breathtaking, once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

 

The pageant’s mission is to instill young ladies with the poise and self-confidence necessary for life’s pursuits through competitions in such categories as spokesmodel, acting, talent, photogenic and casual wear modeling, all of which McCollum participated in. For the talent portion, she sang Never Felt this Way by Alicia Keys.

 

Although she didn’t capture the title, McCollum won trophies for Miss Personality, Spirit of America and State Finalist; 6 ribbons representing the areas in which she competed; and a banner for participating in the pageant.

 

“I have an affinity for the achievements of young people and am privileged to support their endeavors,” according to the mayor, who donated the entire $380 sponsorship fee to McCollum. Among other accomplishments, Smith is a long-time sponsor of the Irvington Little League; has contributed funds to the educational pursuits of several students; has implemented more recreational and social programming than any mayor in recent history; opened two offices of the Statewide Parent Advocacy Network in the township; launched the Irvington Career Vision Ambassadors, a mentoring and life skills program; has held two forums on education; and as a close collaborator with the Irvington Public Schools, is the co-chair (along with Rutgers-Newark Provost Steven Diner) of the Business, Community and University Committee of the school district’s reform plan.

 

“I am very proud of her and impressed by how she handled the whole weekend,” Gwendolyn Tyre, McCollum’s mother, said. “I believe she’s going to go much further than what she’s anticipating.”

 

The beauty pageant experience gave me “a new kind of confidence, and I made a lot of friends,” McCollum said. She vows to try again in 2007 and to enter other such contests throughout the year.

 

McCollum said she paid off additional pageant expenses by working this past summer as a junior camp counselor for the Boys & Girls Clubs in Union.

 

The sports buff runs track, helps conduct training for the IHS varsity football team, acts as assistant coach for the IHS freshman football team, and is interested in a career as a sports psychologist.

 

 

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