Meet Miss USU Eastern: Irylan Tomlinson
On March 25, Irylan Tomlinson was crowned Miss USU Eastern 2023.
“I was just very excited to be able to participate in the pageant. I was able to become really close with the other contestants — I was very grateful,” Tomlinson said.
Tomlinson’s decision to compete in the pageant was based on school pride.
“I really love the school. I think it’s a great little community and I just have so much love for it,” Tomlinson said. “I just met so many amazing people and just wanted to be able to give back to the school.”
Tomlinson has been competing in pageants her whole life and has won many titles over the years. Her most notable titles are Miss Duchesne County’s Outstanding Teen, Miss UBIC’s Outstanding Teen and third runner up at Miss Utah’s Outstanding Teen.
“Pageants have kind of always been something that I have loved to do, and I think they’re really empowering,” she said.
When asked if she plans to compete in future pageants, Tomlinson said she has an open mind.
“I might possibly in the future, but I haven’t really thought that far yet,” she said.
Leading up to the pageant, Tomlinson attended many rehearsals and bonded with the other six contestants and Miss USU Eastern, Brooklyn Ward.
“We were able to rehearse our talents, rehearse our evening gown walks and our opening number,” Tomlinson said. “Overall it was just a really good experience to even compete in the pageant and just meet so many people.”
She also talked highly of the other contestants.
“I think it was an amazing competition and all the contestants were beautiful, each one of them deserves the world — they all bring something so unique and I am definitely just proud of all of us for going out and doing something that’s out of our comfort zones,” Tomlinson said.
Miss USU Eastern is different from other pageant programs in Utah and only has three areas of competition: talent, evening gown and onstage question.
Tomlinson’s favorite competition portion is talent. For the Miss USU Eastern competition, she performed a dance number to the song “Rescued” by Lauren Daigle to raise awareness for human trafficking.
Tomlinson’s passion for dance was a major factor in her decision to attend USU Eastern. She admitted she never thought she would end up there.
“I actually had a totally different plan for myself and all of my plans A, B, C and D fell through,” Tomlinson said. “I decided kind of last minute that I was going to try out for the dance team and I ended up making the team.”
Last week, the USU Eastern dance team went to Nationals in Florida and won third in hip hop, and fourth in jazz.
Tomlinson plans to keep dancing for the USU Eastern dance team next year, with her new title and crown.
-Alivia.Hadfield@usu.edu
Photo courtesy of Irylan Tomlinson