Hannah Pittman’s journey to the Miss Louisiana crown is
nothing short of a coming of age story.
Prior to coming to LSU, the closest thing Hannah had to pageantry was the rodeo career that she had been doing all her life. The summer before her freshman year of college, she entered her first pageant, Miss Florida Parish Beauty. “It was a new experience being on stage and having people judge me on how I walked and smiled,” she said.
Despite her lack of pageantry experience, Hannah won her first title at her very first pageant, which inspired her to further venture down this new love. “I enjoyed putting this effort in myself. I wasn’t going to look like this forever so I wanted to take advantage of that now,” she joked.
In her first year at LSU, the chemical engineering major took a leap of faith and entered the Miss LSU pageant. In comparison to her experience with Miss Florida Parish Beauty, Miss LSU is a preliminary pageant that includes a swimsuit portion. Something Hannah wasn’t sure she was ready for.
“Honestly if the people in [Kappa Alpha] Theta hadn’t supported me in doing Miss LSU, I wouldn’t have done that," Hannah said. "I have to give credit to the girls for pushing me to do it. Before that, I never thought swimsuit would be a good idea, but I had a lot of people help me.”
With that support system behind her and complete confidence in herself, Hannah felt prepared through her experience in Miss LSU to compete in this year’s Miss Louisiana USA pageant. In preparation for the big day, Hannah made some pretty strict restrictions as far as her daily diet. “I realized I had an addiction to peanut M&Ms,” she said guiltily.
She had also been practicing non-stop on how to put pageant makeup on herself, how to walk in a swimsuit and evening gown, and how to sit during the question portion. As grueling as it sounds, Hannah preferred to look on the bright side when it comes to long road towards Miss Louisiana. She found that by learning the techniques for the question portion, she had developed interview skills that would help her land internships. She also found herself much more organized because she didn’t have much free time. Hannah is the epitome of a well balanced, educated sorority girl.
Since she had first made the announcement to her sorority about being a contender for Miss Louisiana, Hannah hasn’t stopped feeling the outpour of love from her sisters. “Even some of the new members found out and texted me," she said. "They wondered how they could support me and what they could do to help.”
Hannah hopes to continue doing Miss LSU and Miss Louisiana in the years to come, but she also hopes that being a pageant girl doesn’t define who she is. “I feel like I’m not the stereotypical pageant girl," she said. "I want to break down those stereotypes and show we’re all just real girls here for the same purpose.”
Best of luck to Hannah on her way to Miss Louisiana! She’s truly been an inspiration to our sisterhood and we cannot wait to see what’s in store for here this year!
