WEST HAVEN — After representing West Haven on the national pageant stage, born-and-raised Westie Mackenzie Gardner, 20, said she was proud to have brought the title of Miss American Teen back home. Looking back on her yearlong reign, which ends Sept. 3, Gardner said her biggest motivation has been her mother, former West Haven High School Principal Pamela Bellmore Gardner, who died of a rare cancer in 2018.
“It was sad for a little while, but it’s been my biggest motivation,” Gardner said. “Now all I want to do is make her proud. All I want to do is help others who are in her situation. That’s my passion.”
The city Aug. 28 recognized Gardner at a reception where she was presented with a certificate acknowledging her achievements as Miss American Teen, as well as blue tote bag with a signed copy of the 2021 centennial book, “City of West Haven: Village to Town,” centennial coins and lapel pins, according to Gardner and the city of West Haven.
“We’re honoring her service to our community and all that she’s done,” Mayor Nancy Rossi said.
Gardner said when most people think of pageants, they imagine the TV version, like the TLC show “Toddlers and Tiaras.” But the ones she competes in have a focus on public speaking, interview skills and community service, she said.
“They are fully focused on service. They are fully focused on scholarship,” Gardner said, “And making sure that you’re not just a pretty face, that you can make an impact at whatever age.”
This year, Gardner said, she worked with the University of New Haven, where she is in her third year studying finance, to dedicate a football game to breast cancer awareness, partnering with an alum who started a nonprofit called the Pink Clover Foundation. Gardner spoke about her family’s experience with cancer and the importance of cancer research at the “Pink Pep Rally,” where they also showcased the research of the university’s Colleen Sorbello Research Laboratory and spotlighted a community member fighting breast cancer, she said.
During her reign, Gardner also commentated a basketball game at her university honoring the anniversary of Title IX, she said. She spoke to members of the state House of Representatives, where she had interned a year prior, about positive pageantry; read to kindergartners at West Haven’s Seth G. Haley Elementary School; spoke to young performers at Milford Performing Arts Center, where she used to dance; and co-hosted and judged an October costume contest on the city Green, according to Gardner.
Gardner’s first pageant was the fundraiser pageant Lil’ Miss Westie held at West Haven High School, which she became interested in through her mom, she said. Gardner said she participated every year starting when she was 6 years old, and that after she won at age 12, she began getting scouted for pageants and competing more regularly. Gardner graduated from West Haven High School in 2021, where she was co-captain of the girls ice hockey team, according to the city of West Haven.
Gardner’s father, Scott Gardner, said at first he thought the pageants were silly. But that changed when Pamela Gardner died. Scott Gardner said his daughter didn’t want to give up pageants, so he stepped up as “pageant dad.”
“I started paying more attention to it and really noticing what she was getting out of it and how she was growing and maturing,” he said. “Developing her public speaking abilities, confidence, things like that. So that’s when I embraced pageantry and decided it was a good thing.”
Pamela Gardner’s aunt Patricia Libelo, a West Haven Board of Education member and former school principal, presented Mackenzie Gardner at the reception. After summarizing her great-niece’s accomplishments, Libelo said “I tell you this so that you recognize this is a young woman who has not only overcome obstacles but continues to strive to become the best version of herself. And she keeps pushing herself to become better and better.”
Gardner said she has been proud to be able to represent West Haven by talking to people all over the country and even overseas: When Gardner studied abroad in Italy this past spring, she said she continued her pageant duties and brought awareness to the Miss American Coed pageant to an international level.
“I think there’s a very silly connotation that people grow up in West Haven and never leave,” Gardner said. “I think that’s true to an extent, but especially this year I have broadened my horizons with so many different things.”
Gardner said she has ambitions to compete for the titles of Miss USA and Miss Universe. But for now, she plans to take a break from pageants to be a full-time student.
“If I can keep up with this hobby, and if it fits into my lifestyle, that would be wonderful,” she said. “But I also know that my career is really important to me and so pageants have to take a back seat while I pursue my career, and I’m OK with that.”