We often see contestants performing dance, singing, or play an instrument during the talent section of a beauty pageant, but Camille Schrier is not your average contestant.
She chose to perform a chemistry experiment onstage for the talent portion of the Miss Virginia competition. Thanks to the experiment known as the ‘elephant toothpaste’ reaction that resulted in an explosion of fascinating giant colorful foam, the young lady won her title and crowned as Miss Virginia 2019 on June 22.
The 24-year-old Camille Schrier decided that she’s not going to perform traditional talents such as singing or dancing.
Schrier’s experiment shows the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide using potassium iodide as a catalyst.
Watch #VCUPharmacy student Camille Schrier wow the judges for Miss Virginia with her talent performance — the catalytic decomposition of hydrogen peroxide!
PS: she won. Next pageant: #MissAmerica #FuturePharmacist pic.twitter.com/MzqgZBUygl
— VCU School of Pharmacy (@VCUPharmacy) June 26, 2019
Safety first! She was clad in a white lab coat and safety goggles too.
It all started when the young contestant gave up her pageantry career to pursue a STEM career at Virginia Tech. Decided to prioritize school, Schrier successfully graduated with degrees in biochemistry and systems biology in 2018.
She is currently pursuing a doctor of pharmacy degree at Virginia Commonwealth University.
With all her involvement in STEM, Schrier didn’t lose her passion towards the beauty pageant industry. So last year she decided to reenter the pageant scene—but brought along her expert area with her.
She took the risk by choosing an unusual talent, but she’s glad that she did it.
Because she was crowned as the winner thanks to that!
“We are typically an organization that sees people that are fabulous dancers and really talented singers use that as their talent, and so for me to come out there and take a risk and do a science demonstration was very different,” told Schrier to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
“As someone who is breaking the boundaries and breaking stereotypes for what talent looks like at Miss America, I wanted to be a little out of the box, and it really worked out.”
Overwhelmed by emotions and shocked when she was discovered as a winner, Schrier fell to the floor and cried.
Schrier during her winning moment.
She’s also been pleasantly surprised by all the positive feedback surrounding her win and the unforgettable chemistry experiment.
“I expected to hear some feedback saying that my talent wasn’t really a talent. But I will tell you, I was overwhelmed with messages saying how cool my talent was, how refreshing it was and how everyone was impressed that I was able to tie education and science into something that was also entertaining,” told Schrier to the Virginia Commonwealth University blog.
“I truly am a woman of science—that’s my career. So I want to be able to break those barriers and to really inspire young women and men to follow this path if that’s something that they’re passionate about.”
“They can look to me and say OK, she’s a woman who is able to be successful in an organization like the Miss America organization, but she’s also a scientist.”
Schrier’s going to return to VCU to finish up her pharmacy degree and will compete in the Miss America pageant in September.
