Idaho State Journal, January 11, 2004

Idaho’s Teen Angel

by Sarah Keech, Features Editor

Hard work is paying off for Miss Idaho Teen USA

   She may have model looks, a tireless personality and the winning charm to nab the Miss Idaho Teen USA title, but Angel Soltero is more than just a beauty queen. She's a tough and smart young woman, who is working hard to win the national Miss Teen USA title and simply succeed in life.
   Born and raised in Pocatello, Angel is relatively new to the pageant circuit, but she is looking forward to making new friends and having a great time representing Pocatello and all of Idaho later this year in the 2004 Miss Teen USA pageant.
   "I have fun at the pageants, and I meet a lot of great girls. You can meet lifelong friends at the pageants. It's also a great experience you can look back on forever," Angel says.
   According to those who know her, the junior at Pocatello High School works hard to achieve every goal she sets.
Angel is involved in student government, with hopes of being student body president her senior year, and is a member of Pocatello High's La Raza, a national organization dedicated to reducing poverty and discrimination for Hispanic Americans.
   She also plays an active role in the community, co-hosting and producing a cable access show on Pocatello Vision 12.
   "I love talking to people. Working on 'La Voz Latina' for the past eight months has definitely helped me prepare for the pageants. We interview people from the all over the community."
   "La Voz Latina" airs live on Channel 12 on Sundays from 2 to 5 p.m.
   Current and future Pocatello High School students have Angel to thank for keeping their school in good condition.
   "Last summer Angel helped plan and organize two rummage sales for Poky High," says Dr. Cheryl Lyda, who invited Angel to live with her three months ago, and is also the grandmother of Angel's boyfriend, Kelly Rodriguez. "She was down there for both sales. She made sure to greet the people who came - she really has a talent for making people feel at ease."
   Angel's efforts raised more than $1,600 - enough to purchase eight new windows for the facade of the historic school.
   A teen with drive and energy, Angel has long-term goals that stretch way beyond her reign as Miss Idaho Teen USA.
   "There are so many things I want to do. College is definitely my plan; that's one of the reasons I do pageants because of the scholarship money. I want to be an architect or a graphic designer. I want to own my own business someday. I am just trying to work my way up there. The pageant experience is not just about modeling, I am working toward academic and life goals."
   Having a broad background in these kinds of activities will likely help Angel as she moves on to compete in the nationally televised pageant, set to be televised on NBC in late August. Pageant representatives say judging is based on more than just looks.
   "A third of the judging at the national pageant is based on evening gown, a third is based on swimsuit and a third is based on personality," Mary Hilliard McMillan of the Miss Universe Organization, parent company of the Miss Teen USA pageant, explains. "And the judging is not just based on how a contestant looks in her evening gown or swimsuit, but is based on how she carries herself and her poise on stage."
Angel has a lot to do before she takes the national stage. To prepare, she will move to Boise later this month to get primed for the national pageant. In order to compete, she'll have to take a semester off from Pocatello High School and temporarily transfer to Borah High School in Boise. But Angel says she is ready and willing to do what it takes to represent Idaho.
   "I am going to have to get in to shape. We'll likely have mock interviews and practice runway walks. There is also a lot of work involved in finding the right dress and clothes. I was really lucky because Treasure Formal Bridal-N-Tux's donated the dress I wore in the state pageant, as well as the shoes and the jewelry."
   Treasure Johnston, owner of Treasure Formal Bridal-N-Tux's, says she was more than happy to donate Angel's evening gown. She plans to do the same for the national pageant, too.
"Angel is such a special girl and she represents the Latina community so well," Johnston says. "So many Latina girls in our area are too intimidated to get involved with the pageants, now Angel is a role model. I always give discounts to girls in pageants, but I know Angel is a great girl; that's why I sponsor her."
   Johnston is not alone in giving Angel a helping hand, even though those who know her say she would never ask herself. ISU professor Lyda says many people are more than willing to help Angel achieve her dreams.
"Angel really impresses me, and she impresses everyone who meets her," Lyda says. "My own parents were so happy to meet a young women with so much drive and so many goals they decided to help out and ended up paying her entry fees for the pageant. They know, like I do, that she deserves the help because she would never ask for it and she doesn't take it for granted. She's a real girl."
   Lyda says Angel's move to Boise is a big one and may be even a little scary for the 16-year-old. But she knows that the opportunities that await her there are more than Angel's own family and even the community can offer her.
   "I'm really going to miss her while she's gone," Lyda says.
   In Boise, along with training and preparation for the pageant, Angel will begin making public appearances as well as visiting school where she plans to talk about a cause she promotes: staying in school.
   "I want to encourage students who have dropped out to consider going back to school," Angel says. "Minorities in Idaho have a fairly high dropout rate, so I hope by visiting schools I can get more students to stick it out and stay in school."
   The life Angel leads is certainly a busy one, but she says she wouldn't have it any other way. She admits she's had to grow up pretty fast and doesn't have a schedule like the typical teen.
   "With the pageants and everything I am working on, I feel like I have an adult's schedule. So I'm not really having a typical teenage life, but that's also by choice," she says.
   She did make time last spring to attend prom with her boyfriend of over a year, Kelly. Since then, Kelly has graduated from Pocatello High School and enlisted in the U.S. Navy. Despite being so far away from her boyfriend, Angel keeps a positive perspective on the situation.
   "We're both trying to do what we can for ourselves so we will both benefit in the end," Angel says, but that doesn't mean she isn't worried that he's headed to the Persian Gulf in May. "I am very, very nervous about where he is going. After he leaves he won't be back in the U.S. until next February."
   She may be in her teens, but Angel seems ready for her future.
   "All of my life I've looked up to Oprah, I admire her so much. She made it all the way to the top from having nothing. That's exactly what I want to do; I always try to be a positive role model for younger people. I see the pageants as a stepping stone to better opportunities for the future," she says.
   Less than two months into her reign as Miss Idaho Teen USA, Angel says all the time and energy she has dedicated to her future is already starting to pay off.
   "I will be going to New York in June to meet with some modeling and acting agents. The pageant has really opened a lot of doors for me and it's been really nice," she says.

   Age: 16
   Title: Miss Idaho Teen USA
   Won Title: November 22, 2003, in Nampa, ID
   Parents: Delia Soltero of Pocatello and Juan Soltero of Boise
   Hometown: Pocatello
   School: Pocatello High School
   Favorite TV Show: "Friends"
   Last Movie Rented: "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days"
   Role Model: Oprah Winfrey