Contestants of the Miss KNUST 2025 pageant are pushing back against stereotypes that pit beauty against intelligence, using their tech-driven projects and advocacy to redefine perceptions of pageantry on campus.
During a courtesy visit to the Director of Student Affairs, Professor Marian Asantewah Nkansah, the contestants led by SRC and Local NUGS Women’s Commissioner Nana Yaa Aduakye shared details of their digital innovation projects and personal development journeys as part of the Miss Digital Dynamite contest.
Each spoke briefly about their goal, how the project would work, and the kind of impact their hoped it would have.
They also spoke about the training they have gone through in the past weeks. Areas of focus have included public speaking, grooming, presentation, and learning how to dress and show up for different occasions.
These sessions were designed to help them grow in confidence and understand what is expected of them in both public and professional spaces.
The contestants asked how they could manage both academics and the demands of the pageant. They also raised concern about the way beauty pageants are viewed on campus, and in society at large.
They explained how often they face judgment, simply because they are in a pageant. They noted that some people still believe that those who care about how they look cannot be smart or driven.
Director of the kNUST Directorate of Student Affairs, Professor Marian Asantewaah Nkansah, encouraged them to work hard in school, stay focused, and be true to themselves.
She also asked them to use their voices to show others that beauty and brains are not opposites.
She reminded the contestants that there is strength in being smart, focused, and self-aware and that the pageant was an opportunity to show that strength in many forms.
As part of the visit, the contestants were given Hygiene Essentials Kits donated by the Hygiene Essentials Bank of the Directorate of Student Affairs. The kits were a gesture of support from the Directorate.