by April Scheinoha
Reporter
On her 6th birthday, Brynn Olson participated in her first pageant. She may not have won the Little Miss Thief River Falls Pageant, but she was hooked. Twelve years later, she now reigns as Miss Minnesota’s Teen 2024.
Her mom, Stacy Olson, and her great-grandma, the late Bernice Lenhart, thought pageants would be a great fit for Brynn. Stacy recalled that Brynn was always performing and had absolutely no fear. It wasn’t something Stacy did as a kid, but she decided to sign Brynn up.
Nearly every year since the Little Miss Thief River Falls Pageant, Brynn has participated in a pageant. Other family members, including her dad Terry and brother Brady, were also along for the ride.
Over the years, Brynn has developed her poise and interview skills on the pageant stage. Some pageant judges have also listened to her sing while others have seen her hula hoop. Now, she focuses on dance.
Brynn enjoys the sisterhood and friendships she has gained in the pageant world. She noted pageants build poise and confidence.
That’s not to say that Brynn isn’t competitive. She said, “It’s always been a goal of mine to be a state titleholder.”
This was Brynn’s fourth time competing in the Miss Minnesota’s Teen pageant, which is affiliated with the Miss America Organization. She previously competed in the pageant as the reigning Miss Moorhead’s Teen, Miss Capital City’s Teen and Miss Northwest Teen.
Brynn, representing the Bemidji area as Miss Northern Lakes’ Teen, was crowned Friday, June 21 in Welch. Her crowning achievement came after three days of competition, including two nights of preliminaries and then the finals. She competed against 11 other teens for the title. Brynn received a prize package valued at more than $30,000, including a $2,500 educational scholarship. She said it was amazing to be announced as Miss Minnesota’s Teen 2024.
Contestants competed in five areas, including the interview. Prior to the competition, each contestant participated in the eight-minute interview.
During the preliminary competition, the girls were split into two groups. One group competed in two categories while the other group competed in the other two categories. For the following night, they competed in the other categories. On finals night, the top six contestants competed in all four of the on-stage categories.
As part of the pageant, each contestant was asked an on-stage question around her community service initiative or what had been called a platform in the past. Brynn’s community service initiative is BIO Girls: Beautiful Inside and Out. The 12-session program builds self esteem in girls grades 2-6 through life-skills curriculum, mentoring and non-competitive physical activity.
Brynn wasn’t the only contestant championing BIO Girls. It just so happened that a fellow contestant promoting BIO Girls was asked her on-stage question immediately before Brynn. She had an idea of what the judges may ask, but she knew it would be a different question than the prior question posed to her fellow contestant. Brynn was admittedly thrown for a loop when she was asked about the importance of emotional intelligence, one of the lessons of BIO Girls. Sitting in the audience, her mom thought it was a hard question.
Brynn and the other contestants also competed in the fitness category where they were judged on their confidence walking in fitness gear.
Talent was another competition category. Brynn performed a theatrical jazz dance to “Tough Lover.” On the second night of preliminaries, she was the preliminary talent winner for her group.
Contestants also competed in evening gown. On the first preliminary night, Brynn won the preliminary evening gown competition for her group.
On the final night, Brynn learned she had won the overall evening gown competition and overall interview competition. Then came her crowning moment.
After the resulting whirlwind died down, Brynn slept two hours and then appeared the following morning on Fox 9 Morning News alongside Miss Minnesota Emily Schumacher.
Brynn has already started racking up the travel miles as Miss Minnesota’s Teen. Over the course of a few days before her interview with The Times in early July, she had traveled to Chanhassen, Bemidji and Detroit Lakes. She also had a photo shoot in Red Lake Falls.
In addition, Brynn has had an opportunity to visit some Minnesota communities with which she had been unfamiliar. For instance, she recently appeared at the annual Festag in Minnesota Lake.
Brynn will continue to make appearances across the state as Minnesota’s teen ambassador throughout her reign. She will also be focused on preparing to represent Minnesota at the Miss America’s Teen 2025 competition in January. Part of her preparation means selecting a new wardrobe, including a new evening gown. Brynn especially looks forward to wearing a more expensive evening gown courtesy of the wardrobe allowances provided as part of her title. Brynn will also prepare a new dance routine for the national pageant.
When Brynn isn’t appearing at an event or planning for the national pageant, she will be attending classes, studying and living the college life at North Dakota State University in Fargo. The 2024 Lincoln High School graduate plans to major in marketing.
As a marketing student, Brynn will learn about showcasing the best aspects of a company and how grow and build a brand. Competing in pageants has helped her put her best foot forward. In the process, it has also helped her prepare for her future career.
Brynn is available for public appearances. To schedule a public appearance, email her business manager, Jackie Siercks, at schedulemmnoteen@missminnesota.org.