Sixteen-year-old Camilla Cyr had never thought of wearing a crown until she was approached last year in a Las Vegas restaurant at the Bellagio Hotel.

She was sitting at a table with her mother, Cindy, when a Miss USA pageant contestant happened to be sitting across from them.

“’She said, ‘Wow, you are gorgeous, you have to do a pageant,’” recalled Camilla, an Eastside Catholic sophomore. “I was taken aback because I had never thought about pageants … But I thought, well, maybe this could be my thing.”

She was right.

Camilla recently took the crown for Miss Kirkland Teen USA at a pageant in Burien last August. Representing Kirkland at the Miss Washington Teen USA pageant in Las Vegas Oct. 11, she made first runner up and $800 in college scholarships. She was also voted “Miss Teen Photogenic.”

She said the pageant was the most amazing experience she’s had so far.

“Going in I was so nervous because all the girls had done this before,” said Camilla, who has also danced with the Pacific Northwest Ballet for 11 years and is captain of the Eastside Catholic Volleyball team. “I didn’t really know what I was doing.”

However, all the girls made her feel so welcome that she “felt like I’d been doing it for years.”

When she went out on the stage for the question and answer part of the pageant, she wood the judges and showed them what she was made of. She was asked if she won the pageant that day, who would be the first person she would call.

“My mom,” answered Camilla, who just wanted to say something from the heart. “Because she is the reason I am who I am today. She has taught me great discipline with everything I do and I can’t thank her enough.”

Cindy said her daughter “shined” and the judges also mentioned that Camilla was very close to taking the crown, and encouraged her to come back next year.

“She just has such a presence,” Cindy said of her daughter. “You just can’t teach someone that.”

She said her daughter learned the poise and confidence it took from being in ballet for so long.

The experience also taught her daughter how to be business savvy, as she had to go around to several Kirkland businesses and raise money. Dermavita Spa gave her free facials and Bayside Nails gave her free manicures.

“We are so proud to be a park of Kirkland,” Cindy said. “Everyone has been so gracious.”

Camilla said she was surprised that one of the judges who did the pre-interviews before the pageant was from Kirkland. She mentioned during the interview that The Slip was her favorite restaurant, in which she was surprised to hear that restaurant was one of the judges favorites, too.