Jillian Mars had never considered competing in swimwear or evening gowns in front of a crowd of spectators before 2021, when she saw from her car a highway billboard promoting the Miss New Hampshire pageant.

The advertisement would change her life. The glitz of pageantry drew her in, and the chance to have a platform to give back kept her “hooked.”

Now entering her first year at Manchester Community College after three years at NHTI, Mars became the first community college student to compete at the Miss Collegiate USA pageant, an annual contest that took place in Maryland last Friday on July 11. She was also the first to be crowned Miss New Hampshire Collegiate USA.

A New Jersey native, Mars moved to New Hampshire with her family in 2019 and enrolled at NHTI three years later. Outside of college, she began competing in pageants and looking for “opportunities to expand” her community involvement in a new area; on campus, she immersed herself in student government as treasurer and later vice president of the student senate.

“There wasn't a person who didn't know her when she was walking around because she just got involved with everything,” said Kaitlin Moody, director of student life and advisor to the student senate at NHTI. “Through student senate and getting the chance to be that person who led her peers and was an advocate for them, I think it opened new doors for her.”

The skills Mars, a marketing student, honed by greeting people and assisting with events as a part-time desk clerk for the school’s department of athletics and wellness also helped her advance in the pageant world.

“One of her secret talents has been marketing,” said Annie Matarazzo, director of athletics at NHTI. “She has been a gift to our department in terms of flyers, posters [and] other marketing materials for events that we run. She’s really made us see the value of marketing in athletics. She was able to bring magic to our department.”

After being diagnosed with essential tremor at 21 years old, Mars became a spokesperson for the International Essential Tremor Foundation — a partnership that would later shape her social impact initiative through Miss New Hampshire. She has made community service and “a platform of kindness” cornerstones of her pageantry.

“Competing in pageants allows me to not only earn scholarship money, but to uplift others through community service,” she said. “I have completed over one thousand hours over the last few years because it brings me joy and makes my heart happy.”

Mars competed at the national Miss Collegiate USA preliminary competition at the University of Maryland last Friday. For more information about the Miss Collegiate USA pageant, visit https://www.misscollegiateusa.org/.

Brendilou Armstrong can be reached at barmstrong@cmonitor.