Sophomore Mackynlie Conklin, from Midland, Texas, will be competing in the Miss Texas USA pageant in August 2019 as Miss Permian Basin.
Conklin, a sophomore communication major, is also an HPU cheerleader, a writer and photographer for The Yellow Jacket, and a member of Delta Chi Rho. This year, she will also serve as a student worker in the HPU COM department.
Conklin is excited about her work as Miss Permian Basin.
“I want to encourage girls to be persistent in pursuing their dreams. I want to be a role model to women and young girls to believe in themselves in doing anything they put their mind to,” said Conklin.
Conklin said that the HPU COM department has helped solidify her career plans and grow her communication skills.
“Being a part of the COM department has helped me to develop skills to become more professional and refined. These skills transfer over to my pageant experiences, influencing my performance. HPU pushed me to interact more with others, and it really created a perfect place to create friends, but also to have a community to put into practice the materials that I have learned. The skills I learned in the COM department have helped me to gain my title and have given me the confidence in myself to communicate effectively to the wide range of members of the pageant community.”