By Shan Yonamine
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Junior Briana Garrido represented the state of Hawaii in the Ms. America’s Outstanding Teen competition on Aug. 20, 2011 in Orlando, Fla. Though she didn’t place at the national level, participation in this pageant inspired Garrido to create a nonprofit organization that extends aid to families who are having difficulty keeping up with medical bills.
“My platform is titled ‘Dream, Fight, Endure and Nothing Can Stand in Your Way’, which is a motivational platform that works towards instilling hope among children, teens and adults alike who are dealing with adversities,” stated Garrido. Every contestant was required to have a platform that aided others, which is similar to a personal mission statement, to present to the judging panel. Participants were also required to submit an essay describing their platform.
Garrido can personally relate to her platform as she has been struggling with what doctors believe to be a genetic mitochondrial disorder for a little over half a year. “We are trying to fundraise for families who can’t afford their health bills, because we’ve been in that situation,” stated Garrido continuing, “We understand how hard it is to deal with the health bills so we wanted to provide a service where we could somewhat be an aid.”
Drive and genuine concern for her cause and drive is what allowed Garrido to turn her platform into an organization. “I admire (Garrido) for her passion and courage to speak out about a health issue that is not well-known and affects her personally,” stated four-time first-runner up Miss Hawaii and family friend Caroline Chapman. “She is taking her difficult circumstance and using her experiences to raise awareness and offer hope to others,” she continued.
Other than the development of her platform, Garrido had to deal with the challenge of balancing school, her medical condition and competing in a national pageant. “For (Garrido), I think her biggest obstacle was trying to stay healthy and keeping on top of school work,” stated mother Marie Garrido continuing, “I was always constantly reminding her to try to keep a balanced life by not putting too much emphasis on just one thing, she was expected to continue to do well in school, attend her church meetings, get enough rest and of course still have fun with her friends and family.”
Despite her medical struggles, Briana Garrido’s parents are accommodating towards her pageant goals. “I have very supportive parents. The only thing they were concerned about was (me) taking on too much,” she explained.
Briana Garrido plans to continue work on her nonprofit organization in addition to working on designing a t-shirt through the Children’s Miracle Network. All proceeds from shirt sales go directly back to the organization.
