McAllen native and Miss Texas USA 2021, Victoria Hinojosa, made it to the top eight of the 70th annual Miss USA pageant, but fell short of earning the national crown Monday evening.
Hinojosa competed against 50 other contestants representing each state and the District of Columbia from the Paradise Cove Theater of the River Spirit Casino Resort in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Following a preliminary competition held Friday evening and personal interviews with the judges on Saturday morning, Hinojosa was selected to the top 16 contenders.
Hinojosa, along with the remaining contestants, participated in the swimsuit competition, which featured multi-platinum recording artist Ja Rule, who delivered a performance of his hit song, “Livin’ It Up.”
The contestants then participated in the evening gown portion of the pageant before the field was narrowed down to the top eight.
Hinojosa and her seven fellow contestants participated in a question round. They were divided into two groups of four and asked a series of questions.
Hinojosa and her group were asked about their most important core values.
“I’d have to say to treat others the way you’d like to be treated,” Hinojosa responded. “It’s something that I work with, with elementary school kids, and it goes a long way. That’s probably one of my favorite morals.”
They were then asked whether certain trends “slay or should go away.” The first trend in question was charcuterie boards, to which Hinojosa was in favor. The second trend was wearing sneakers “with literally everything,” to which she was not in favor.
Lastly, each contestant took a question from one of the judges, who were randomly assigned. Hinojosa drew a question from classical pianist, composer, and activist Chloe Flower, who asked, “What changes would you like to see to increase racial equality?”
“So one of the things that I’ve done as Miss Texas is go to elementary school kids and do an activity that I call, ‘Where would you like to bee?’ where I do a coloring activity with kindergarteners and first graders,” Hinojosa replied. “I help them understand the importance of being kind and accepting one another. So all their bumblebees are different, but just because they’re different doesn’t mean that they’re not beautiful.
“So I think impressing this at such a young age is the foundation, and going forward I know that they’ll carry this with them.”
Ultimately, the Miss USA 2021 crown went to Elle Smith of Kentucky, but the path that Hinojosa has paved for youth throughout the Rio Grande Valley and South Texas will inspire.
In September, just after earning the Miss Texas USA 2021 crown, the 2015 McAllen Memorial High School graduate and Texas A&M University alumni said she hopes to inspire young girls and boys from the Valley to continue striving for their dreams.
“I hope to be a role model to that person that doesn’t believe in themself to continue chasing their dreams no matter how big they are,” she said in September. “I hope that they see me and what I’ve done and look up to me and do the same thing. That’s really what I hope to get out of it. I think being from the Rio Grande Valley, sometimes we put ourselves in this little bubble. We don’t think that we can go that far. We think our dream is too big.
“I want to really encourage — especially our impressionable youth — that there is no dream that is too big, especially with hard work and dedication. Anything is possible.”
