By Solen Alef
Reporter
When PLU alumni, Cierra Nalani Richards started her pageant career at 17, she was hoping to win some scholarship money to help pay for the ever-increasing cost of college. She found herself at an automatic disadvantage, when she realized her competition were girls who started out in the pageant business as “literally toddlers in tiaras”. However, Richards didn’t let her lack of experience stop her from competing, and the current International Junior Miss Washington title recipient is clearly glad she didn’t.
Richards came to PLU loving the pageant world, but looking to study something she could make a lifelong career out of. She said had no clue what she wanted to study initially, besides dance that was offered as a minor when she attended PLU. She looked into majoring in kinesiology or philosophy, but said she found herself yearning for something a little more creative.
“I’ve always been good at science, stem and these other things but I’ve always really been passionate about creativity,” she said.
She finally found what she was looking for after taking her first communications class. Richards knew she loved public speaking since that was so incorporated in the pageant world, but that’s where her knowledge on communications ended. In fact, after taking just a few classes in that department, Richards said that Communications “captured my heart like no other”.
This led her to finishing class textbooks in just a week, because she said she felt so engaged in what she was learning everyday She accredits this to her to graduating with a communications major in 2017.
It’s been a few years since she was on campus as a student, but Richards looked back on it with fond memories of meeting great people. She said she met many inspiring professors here that shaped her way of thinking, including a personal role model, now retired, Professor Peter Ehrenhaus. He taught the Intercultural Communications class she took. She described him as a personable teacher who was somebody “that you could ask anything to, and he was always there for us”.
“I really wanted to study exactly what he studied. I feel like if I have the opportunity to go a route in communications, I wanna go his route, and ultimately I’d love to be a professor like him one day,”.
She also remembered another professor giving her money to buy lunch and printer points, after she couldn’t print a paper to turn in on time due to running out of money on her lute card.   Â
“People here hold the door for you, and smile when you pass by, and in the outside world you don’t get that and I miss that so much”, she said.
After graduation, Richards continued volunteering and doing philanthropic work in her local community, and it’s lead her to many opportunities.
Through Crown C.A.R.E.S., (creating a respectful environment in schools), she works closely with local elementary schools to teach anti-bullying to students. She said while she loves volunteering, she is also excited about dedicating her time to a paid work position, and after finishing her fourth round of interviews for the American Cancer Society earlier this week, Richards said she’s very hopeful about landing a job as the new Community Development Manager of our local area.
Obtaining a degree in at a Lutheran higher education school may seem daunting to some, but Richards said she loved the opportunity to learn something completely new. While it’s easier said than done, she believes that everyone can follow in the footsteps of Martin Luther with just a little courage in themselves. “Don’t be silenced”, she says “…and don’t feel like you have to keep something to yourself because it’s not the norm. Really if you feel like this is right, and this should be said, go for it- and be passionate about it, even if you get this retribution back”.
