Toria Shea Mangum is the 2015 Miss Rowan County and Kayla Faith Wright is the 2015 Miss Rowan County’s Outstanding Teen.

Both were crowned at East Rowan High School in the organization’s fifth pageant in November. Several former queens attended the pageant, and many other local preliminary queens were present. Both the Miss Rowan and Outstanding Teen contestants competed in interview, talent, fitness, evening gown and on-stage questions. Their selection as the new Rowan County queens allows them to continue competition on the state level at the Miss North Carolina Pageant in Raleigh in June.

Mangum is the daughter of Jennifer Gaines of High Point. She is a sophomore at East Carolina University, where she is studying business management. Mangum is very active in several campus organizations, including the East Carolina University Ambassadors, and volunteers for many community service organizations including Relay for Life, Special Olympics, and Anytown. Her platform is “Take the Plunge: Volunteer,” which encourages everyone to give back to their communities in an effort to provide needed assistance and manpower in organizations that help different groups. Mangum also received a cash award for her talent, a jazz dance to “Sing, Sing, Sing,” and a cash award for fitness.

Wright is the daughter of Pam and Jason York and Steve Wright of Statesville. She is a freshman at the James B. Iredell AP Academy at Statesville High School. Wright is also very involved in her community by volunteering to teach dance classes. Her platform is “The Love that Binds: Helping Children of Divorce,” which allows her to mentor children who may be struggling with the effects of parental separation and divorce. She performed a lyrical dance to Allison Crowe’s “Hallelujah” for her talent. She also won a cash award as the teen fitness winner.

Mangum and Wright have also chosen two young ladies to be their Carolina Princesses — Aubri Hill and Gillian Keith, respectively. These queens round out the entire Rowan County court, which consists of nine Outstanding Little Miss queens. These queens are: Petite Miss, McKinlee Long; Little Miss, Regan Williams; Mini-Majestic Miss, Charlotte Rappe; Junior Little Miss, Piper Pollard; Junior Miss, Lauryn Caldwell; Young Miss, Kristen Herren; and Majestic Miss, Lilly Beaver; Hospitality Queen, Ava Glover; and Royal Ambassador, Victoria Layton. The responsibilities of these queens include making appearances with the older ladies, doing community service activities and supporting fundraising efforts for Children’s Miracle Network.

The Miss Rowan County Scholarship Pageant is an official local preliminary competition of the Miss North Carolina and Miss America Organizations. For more information regarding the program, or to request appearances, visit the pageant’s website, www.missrowancountypageant.org.