She stood on stage in her sparkly silver dress, holding hands with the girls on each side of her. She looked poised and glamorous with her perfectly placed loose-curled hair and smoky eye shadow.  Yet, as soon as the announcer called out contestant number six, her chin quivered and her hands went up to her mouth. The girl to her right congratulated her with a hug. On that unforgettable March 3 day, Stephanie Schauer’s dream had come true. She was crowned Miss El Cajon 2012.

Although Miss El Cajon has been Stephanie’s biggest pageant accomplishment, it certainly wasn’t her first. Her involvement in pageants started five years ago when Stephanie competed in the Mother Goose Pageant during the 11^th grade. Stephanie explained that the pageant sends letters to girls in the community that actively participate in their schools and earn good grades saying that they are qualified to apply for the pageant.

Of all the girls that apply, only ten are chosen to write essays and compete for scholarship money, said Amanda DeCunzo, Stephanie’s best friend. The winners of the pageant ride on a float during the annual Mother Goose Parade, which is a part of the city’s Thanksgiving Day celebrations.

Since then, Stephanie has competed in eight other pageants, four of which were for Miss El Cajon. She came close to winning Miss El Cajon last year when she was voted Miss Congeniality by her peers, reminisced Savana Kalfayan, Miss El Cajon 2011.

“She’s the sweetest girl. Everyone just falls in love with Stephanie,” said Kalfayan as she explained why the girls voted Stephanie to be Miss Congeniality.

Kalfayan remembered Stephanie being the girl that would go up to the rest of the contestants and introduce herself, so she could get a chance to personally know each of them. Even though Miss Congeniality was an honor, Stephanie wouldn’t stop until she was crowned Miss El Cajon, no matter how hard it would be.

The pageant is a two-day process that can be overwhelming for the contestants. On the first day, a panel of judges interviews the girls, and during the evening there’s a dinner that raises money for the scholarships, said DeCunzo. On the second day, the girls have their on-stage presentations.

According to Howard Bagley in his article “New Ambassadors will Reign Over City During Centennial Celebration,” during the on-stage presentations, the girls are judged on four categories including their poise and personality, evening gowns, speech and on-stage impromptu questions.

To stand out from the other girls, the contestants spend months preparing. Stephanie spent a majority of her time preparing for the pageant by practicing her interview skills.

“I really like to practice interviewing the most, because you can never have enough practice with public speaking,” said Schauer. “It (the interview) gives the judges an opportunity to get to know your personality and your heart beyond the glitz and glamour.

The girls must also prepare for their poise and evening gown categories by looking their best to impress the judges.

“I definitely schedule all of the airbrush tanning, nail, hair and makeup appointments ahead of time. You always have to put your best foot forward,” confessed Schauer.

Finally, after four years of working towards becoming Miss El Cajon, Stephanie’s dreams came true. She was crowned Miss El Cajon 2012 and became a youth ambassador to the city.

“I was so excited when she won,” explained Kalfayan, who crowned Stephanie. “It was the best feeling.”

Her family and friends sat in the crowed to support her and were thrilled when she won. Her boyfriend, Travis Schurnn, said he knew exactly why Stephanie won Miss El Cajon.

“She’s dedicated, charismatic, personable, dependable and, of course, beautiful,” blushed Schurnn.

For Stephanie, being Miss El Cajon is important because she gets to become an “integral” part of the community by attending events around the city.

“I promised myself that I would not be just another titleholder who smiles and waves and takes pictures, said Stephanie with a serious tone in her girly voice. “I wanted to make a difference somehow, someway.”

According to the Council for Youth Empowerment’s website, who sponsor the pageant, one of their main goals is for the girls to become involved in the community together. All of the girls attend fundraisers like the Lions Pine Valley Day’s parade that raises money for scholarships, ribbon ceremonies for business openings and city social events like Oktoberfest.

As Miss El Cajon, Stephanie attended El Cajon’s Concerts on the Promenade and the Cajon Classic Cruise several times over the summer. Kalfayan explained that these are the events where the girls really get a chance to interact with kids. Stephanie liked to dance and hug the kids at the concerts, recalled Cynthia Robertson in her article “Connecting with Children is Reward Enough.”

While Kalfayan remembered all the kids running up to Stephanie at one of the Cajon Classic Cruises, a car show, and looking at Stephanie like she was a princess.

“The little girls and little boys were in awe of her, “ Kalfayan laughed as she remembered the kids looking up to Stephanie.

Actually, Stephanie considers working with children her biggest achievements as Miss El Cajon. One of her favorite things to do when she meets kids is let them try on her tiara.

“They get a real kick out of it,” exclaimed Schauer as she flashed a big smile.  “Since my head is much larger than theirs, usually they have to hold it up with both hands. It is so adorable.”

In addition to becoming involved with children, Stephanie’s main goal as Miss El Cajon was to help teen girls.

“She really wanted to have a dress drive-and she did it- where girls could pick out a prom dress,” said DeCunzo, proud of Stephanie’s accomplishment.

Stephanie believes prom is a right of passage, and all teens should experience it. Just two months after becoming Miss El Cajon, the city’s library invited Stephanie to attend, host and help girls choose dresses at their annual prom dress drive, said Roberts.

“I donated four dresses and each one found a new girl to create memories with,” remembered Schauer of the event.

While Stephanie has helped the community of El Cajon by volunteering her time, the experience has equally benefited Stephanie. Not only did Stephanie receive a $1,000 scholarship that she used towards books during summer school but she’s also getting the chance to prepare for her future career as a broadcast journalist. Through being Miss El Cajon, Stephanie’s learned important skills for journalists like how to be poised, give clear answers, practice people skills and become more confident, said DeCunzo.

In addition, “It will look good on her resume, and it has given her the chance to meet a lot of people in different positions,” pointed out Schurnn.

While Stephanie has benefited from many perks as Miss El Cajon, Kalfayan admitted, from her experience, that being Miss El Cajon can become overwhelming with all of the position’s responsibilities. In fact, besides being Miss El Cajon and a full-time student, Stephanie works at Victoria Secret, is an intern at Fox 5, writes for the Daily Aztec, and is a DJ for an on-campus radio show. However, for Stephanie there are no downsides to being Miss El Cajon.

“I knew exactly what I was getting myself into, and I am loving every single moment that God has blessed me with as Miss El Cajon,” gleamed Schauer.

Fraternity brothers spot each other lifting weights. Sorority girls wait for Zumba class to start. Sweaty college students run on the treadmills.

Yet how many of these people think about  how much energy the Aztec Recreation Center uses to maintain the facility for them?

Lights in the weight room allow the fraternity boys to see. Air conditioning in the multipurpose room keeps the girls cool. Televisions in the cardio room entertain members while they workout. These seemingly little energy uses began to add up and caused massive energy expenditure for the ARC.

The 26,000 square foot building is filled with a variety of energy sucking technologies. The entrance into the facility has six TVs, a Nintendo Wii and X-Box, six computers, two vending machines, and a Samsung mobile charging station.

Further down into the ARC, the cardio room has nine TVs that gym goers can view while they use one of the 36 treadmills, 25 elliptical trainers or nine Stairmaster machines. Moving into the women’s locker room and bathroom, there are 15 electric outlets and 13 hair dryers. While these are the typical energy-users by gym members, there is still energy use by the employees.

The ARC houses several offices for employees. Office equipment that the ARC uses includes printers, copiers and additional computers. According to the US Department of Energy, even if these appliances are turned “off” they still draw a small amount of energy. In addition, there is always energy being used by everyone like lighting and air conditioning. This combined energy usage added up to a $125,000 annual electric bill, said Ronald Pascual Building Service Coordinator at the ARC.

Green Love, a division of Associated Students, implemented the solar power panel project for the ARC to reduce the costs associated with high-energy usage. Green Love installed solar panels for the new student center building and received a rebate, explained Pascual. With that rebate they were able to hire Sullivan Solar Power to install the panels, worth $1.2 million. In April of 2012, after six months, the project was complete.

Since then, the ARC has greatly benefited from the solar panels. The ARC’s electricity bill was cut in half, said Pascual, and they receive $10,000-$12,000 in credits from SDG&E a month. Credit is earned when the panels provide more energy than the building needs, said Linda Halabi Associate Program Manager for California Solar Initiative, SDG&E uses that energy and credits the ARC back when they pull electricity from the company’s grid.

Another benefit of the solar panels is that they create clean energy by not relying on fossil fuels, which emit Greenhouse gases. The solar panels’ data acquisition system, by Fat Spaniel Technologies, measures how much energy the solar panels produce and the amount of Greenhouse gases avoided. Since April, the solar panels have generated 247,997 kWh of clean energy, which is the same amount of energy to operate a TV for 1,1723,579 hours. By relying on this clean energy, they have avoided over 400,000 lb. of Greenhouse gas emissions.

Inspired by the solar panels, the ARC has taken on other “green” projects. In efforts to further reduce energy, the ARC installed energy-efficient appliances like hair and hand dryers, cut air conditioning use by installing large ceiling fans and white roof, and switched from incandescent lighting to fluorescent.

“Overall they (ARC) reduce the amount of energy they need with energy efficient products, so they pay less to the utility and the solar that they have on their roof goes a longer way if they don’t have as huge of an energy requirement,” explained Halabi. The newest “green” project at the ARC is incorporating energy-free treadmills into the cardio room.

“They almost have a hamster-wheel effect in that once you start running they’ll continue to move, so you don’t have to use energy,” explained Jessica O’Leary Building Service Assistant at the ARC.

Of course, the ARC can further improve on its energy use.  O’ Leary suggests turning off TVs during slow hours, keeping the Wii and X-Box shut off until someone plays them, and educating members on energy conservation.

Overall, the ARC has made huge strides toward going “green” by reducing their energy use. The biggest stride, which inspired even more changes, was the installation of solar panels. These panels benefit the ARC by saving it thousands of dollars. Yet, those directly impacted by the solar panels seem to be happiest about taking care of the environment by reducing Greenhouse gases and creating clean energy.

“Were saving mother nature,” said Pascual.