On Thursday night, students filled Washington Hall for O’Neill Family Hall’s annual “Miss Notre Dame” pageant.
The pageant, which benefits the South Bend Center for the Homeless and the Jubilee Initiative for Financial Inclusion (JIFFI), featured contestants from many women’s dorms on campus. In between acts, each section in O’Neill showed an original, pre-recorded skit.
The event had three “celebrity” football player judges: Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa, Joseph Vinci and an O’Neill Resident Assistant pretending to be Bryce Young.
The hosts of the night were Aidan “Bitsy” Flynn and Ristian David, two O’Neill sophomores who played lead roles in organizing Miss Notre Dame. They wrote the show’s programming together, while David coordinated with Washington Hall staff and worked on the audio and lights.
Flynn said co-hosting the show in front of a few hundred people went “a long way for [his] confidence.”
“In high school, I would’ve been the last person to host something like this, so that was big,” he said.
Flynn and David took the stage after a Taylor Swift Eras Tour-inspired introduction video played on the screen behind them. After they introduced the contestants, the talent portion commenced.
Acts included a stand-up comedy routine, an original song about Badin Hall and, the winning act, a poetic rendition of “FE!N” by Travis Scott.
Maisy Adams, the freshman from Johnson Family Hall who was crowned Miss Notre Dame, came up with the idea for her act after initially considering singing a song.
“I was like, ‘What could be funny? What appeals to the sense of humor of some football players?’” she said.
While Adams admitted she was quite nervous before going on stage, she said she calmed down once her performance started.
“You couldn’t see anyone in the audience, really, because of the lights, so it wasn’t too daunting,” she said. Adams also stated her experience doing theater in high school helped her to relax.
Jaelyn Grumieaux, a freshman who represented Pasquerilla East Hall, has competed in pageants throughout her life and currently holds the title of Miss Ohio Valley 2025. During the show, she sang a cover of “Let It Go” from Disney’s Frozen (with the help of two male background dancers).
Pasquerilla East president Katie Finn recruited Grumieaux for the position, which she happily accepted.
“When Madame President gives you an order, you have to follow through with it,” Grumieaux said.
Prior to the show, Grumieaux noted how much she appreciated that the pageant’s proceeds went to charity. She cited her own volunteer work with Our Lady of the Road, a South Bend homeless shelter, as an example of what the night meant to her.
“Seeing the impact that our volunteer work had as well as how much our homeless shelters in South Bend can use the money is really keeping me motivated when I get scared about being on stage in front of everybody,” Grumieaux said.
After every contestant performed their talent and each section played their skit, the audience voted for their top three contestants and top skit. Five girls — Miss JFam, Miss Breen-Phillips, Miss Badin, Miss Cavanaugh and Miss Farley — advanced to the next and final round, in which they answered questions such as, “If you woke up as Bitsy, what is the first thing you would do?”
Adams said she did not know exactly what the questions would be going into the second round but also that she had gotten some good advice in rehearsal from Flynn, David and the other O’Neill men working backstage.
“They told us beforehand, ‘Don’t think, just say. Just speak words, and you’ll be fine,’” she said.
As the pageant drew to a close, the celebrity judges convened to determine the winner. Adams was awarded a crown and sash, and all finalists received flowers.
Finally, O’Neill president Josh Lloyd spoke to the crowd as he announced they were able to raise over $1,100 for charity in ticket sales.
In all, Flynn thought the event was a success on many levels, and he emphasized its importance to him as a member of the “Angry Mob.”
“Miss Notre Dame means everything to me,” he said. “It’s my dorm’s main event, and O’Neill is the most important aspect of my time at Notre Dame, so I wanted to represent myself well for the dorm as a host.”
