With Thanksgiving break beginning, students are excited to sleep in, slack off and stuff their faces with turkey and pumpkin pie. However, senior Arianna Alvarez has other things on her mind.

Alvarez will be competing against 90 to 120 other girls at the Miss Texas Teen USA pageant in Houston on Nov. 26 and 27.

“I’m a little nervous because it’s my first pageant and everyone else has been doing this for a while, but I think it’s a learning experience so I think I’ll just have fun with it,” Alvarez said.

For Alvarez, the road to competing in a pageant has not been an easy one.

“I’m usually an athlete so it was really stepping on my comfort zone and becoming a girl and trying something new,” Alvarez said. “I had to learn how to walk in heels; my mom would always make fun of me cause I walk like an athlete when I’m in heels. So I really had to learn how to walk in heels, how to act like a girl and really know how to get comfortable in my own skin.”

The winner and other top finalists will be chosen by a panel of judges and awarded many prizes, including more than $90,000 in scholarships, various beauty/clothing products and gift certificates.

In addition, the contestant with the most votes will receive the Miss Texas Teen USA People’s Choice Award.  

“If I win and I’m Miss Texas Teen USA, I will move around and just really try and teach girls that you need to be comfortable in your own skin and that you can have multiple sides to you,” Alvarez said.