Junior Brittani DeVore will be competing to be crowned Miss Pennsylvania.

Mercyhurst College is in the presence of royalty. Junior Brittani DeVore was crowned Miss Greater Johnstown on Sept. 26 and will be going on to compete in the Miss Pennsylvania pageant.

Miss Greater Johnstown is a local title awarded through the Miss Pennsylvania Scholarship Organization (MPSO), and each state makes up the Miss America Organization (MAO). MAO provides personal and professional opportunities for young women to promote their voices in culture, politics and the community. The organization makes available more than $45 million in cash and tuition scholarship assistance each year.

Supporting DeVore at the Miss Greater Johnstown Pageant were her Mercyhurst College friends, juniors Jessica Fiden, Jackie Hartz and Chelsea Cox.

“What we did was make T-shirts with her picture and ‘WE LOVE YOU BRITT’ on them, and throughout we were cheering for her,” Fiden said. “We also stayed prepared for any help Britt might need.”

DeVore’s platform is “The Power of Play,” a program empowering America’s youth to pursue achievement, love themselves, acquire healthy habits and responsibility, as well as yearn to be better. Her talent is a contemporary lyrical dance to Gavin Degraw’s “Belief,” which was choreographed by Mercyhurst senior Trevor Sones.

“This will be my second time going to Miss Penn., and I am thrilled,” DeVore said. “The experience you gain from being involved with the Miss America Organization is something you can take with you and apply to your life forever.”

DeVore added that this organization has been a part of her development and growth. “Through this program I have been taught what it means to be a professional, how to succeed and how to handle failure,” DeVore said.

The Miss Pennsylvania Pageant will be held June 13-19 at the Syria Mosque Hotel in Pittsburgh.

DeVore’s friends juniors Jackie Harts, Jessica Fiden and Chelsea Cox show off their ‘WE LOVE YOU BRITT’ T-shirts.

Devore’s friends accompanied her to the Miss Greater Johnstown Pageant to show their support.

Kayne Gillaspie, known as Johnathan Kayne from ‘Project Runway’ (top 5 designer from season 3), will be designing DeVore’s gown.

Mercyhurst College junior Brittani DeVore