Dartmouth teen makes her case for Miss Massachusetts Teen title

Three years ago, Kercheena Pamphile saw then Dartmouth senior Hannah Lima compete in the Miss Massachusetts Teen competition and soon knew it was a program she wanted to be a part of.

Pamphile, who graduated from Dartmouth High School this year, first got interested in the Miss American Teen organization when she was a freshman in high school and was “obsessed with the senior Hannah Lima,” who was crowned Miss New Bedford Outstanding Teen in September 2021.

“She was an inspiration to me, and she was just a light around everyone around her,” Pamphile said, “So I really just wanted to do a lot like her.”

Pamphile was drawn to the organization also because it encompassed a lot of different things and clubs she wanted to be a part of, such as community service.

“I was able to do it all in one,” she said. “That was how I really got involved, and I just fell in love with it.”

On Thursday, June 18, Pamphile traveled to Worcester to compete in her final Miss Massachusetts Teen competition.

This year, Pamphile competed as Miss Blackstone Valley Teen, a title she won in February during an open competition that girls from across the state could participate in.

Pamphile has a manager who helps with preparing for the interview and general prep work, though she also has “a lot of my own independence.”

“That was really great, as this was my last year as a teen contestant in this organization,” she said.

She said that with this freedom, she was able to make the pageant her own and represent herself the way that she wanted to.

This included choosing to wear a tight fit yellow gown that she felt “really represented who I am.”

“I think that was my sunshine personality, and really just what I want people to see me as how I see myself,” Pamphile said.

Pamphile said that going into the competition she expected to do “very well” because she “worked so hard with my routine and everything.”

As part of the talent portion of the competition, Pamphile created a “herstory,” walking audience members through what goes on in the mind of someone who is struggling with an eating disorder in a “hope to bring more sympathy to the subject.”

She explained that eating disorder recovery is her community service initiative, and that she was “really happy to bring that forward and put that passion on the stage.”

This involved walking the audience through an “intellectual writing” she wrote and getting them to think about what can go on in the mind of someone who struggles with an eating disorder.

Pamphile said that herstory will “hopefully bring more sympathy and interest to the topic.”

“Education about the subject just helps everyone around you,” she said.

Pamphile said that she had been preparing for the competition since February, right after she was crowned as Miss Blackstone Valley.

She said that preparing for the competitions becomes natural and “a part of your life.”

“You find time in your day just to rehearse your walk and rehearse your talent,” she said. “You just find some time in the day.”

While Pamphile has now aged out of the Miss Massachusetts Teen competition, she said that in her adulthood she may return to the organization and continue with her acts of community service.

She noted that she loves the relationship between the Miss and Teen competitors and said that when she was backstage, a lot of the younger girls were “begging me to come back.”

Pamphile competed against 17 other teens from across the state for the title of Miss Massachusetts Teen, and while she didn’t place in the top five, she said she “did enjoy the moment I had.”

“This is my last team competition, so I did have a great amazing time,” she said.

She noted, “How many teenagers can say that they’re getting dolled up in a great evening gown?”