In our community there is an abundance of diversity, talent, and culture within this student body. However there are few who are advocates for their heritage and culture, and represent such at a national level. A year ago, senior Murielle Sokhon was crowned the Miss American Cambodian DC as the 2014 queen, making her the active Miss American Cambodian DC in 2015.

Since then she has been an ambassador and spokesperson for Forever Living Health and Beauty Franchise, and Her Life magazine. New opportunities are being presented to her such as internships, modeling jobs, and broadcast ventures, all because she was urged to, and entered this specific pageant.

Miss American Cambodian DC is a unique pageant compared to the typical American pageant because of the element of Cambodian culture and heritage being a focus. Like American pageants Sokhon participated in an evening wear, swimsuit wear, and an interview portion, however the pagent also included a Cambodian wear, and a talent portion. Sokhon said, “The pageant gave

[the] opportunity to display appreciation and recognition to Cambodian culture, and I am honored to have been apart of this.”

Sokhon entered the pageant at sixteen, making her the youngest contestant who has competed, and won. This was the first time she had ever entered a pageant and she was surprised at the outcome. Sokhon said, “Most of the contestants had been competing from a young age, and it was crazy on my first time I won.”

What set Sokhon apart from her competitors 0was her talent. She is trained in the classical Cambodian ballet, and has been dancing for many years. Due to her prior experience in dance she was a co-choreographer for the opening ceremony of the pageant. Her prior dance experience made her a fierce competitor.

After being crowned she was automatically was put in the next pageant, Miss Asian Pacific. Like American pageants, regional pageant winners go on to compete at the the state level, then state winners go on to compete nationally.

Winners of individual Asiatic ethnic groupings, such as Miss American Cambodian DC, go on to Miss Asian Pacific, then to Miss Asian Pacific World. Sokhon placed in top 5 at Miss Asian Pacific, which is the furthest a crowned Miss Cambodian has ever gotten. Sokhon said, “Although I [placed] in top five at Miss Asian Pacific, I competed further than I thought, and had the opportunity to represent my culture and customs.”

Since Sokhon’s crowning she has been given many networking and career opportunities.“I am very grateful for the skills and experience Miss Cambodian has given me,” Sokhon said. Now Sokhon is focusing on academics and will attend UMBC in the fall. She said “although I have the option to model it is something I prefer to do on the side”.