Ryan Arzuaga: Why are you actively competing to be Miss Cardinal?

Kayanna Walker: I’m actively competing to be Miss Cardinal because I feel like I can make a difference with my voice, and I just feel I have a very open and uppity personality. I feel like I can get others in a community like young minds to be more involved.

RA: So not only as your interviewer but also as a classmate, I can tell that you’re very outgoing and exuberant and very open too. How might that personality help you in this competition?

KW: It would help me having this type of personality because I’ll be more confident within myself and just my answers when talking to the judges and my peers as well. I feel like having a positive mindset within everybody and not being so cocky-minded is a very good thing.

RA: This question is a little bit more about you and your personal life. So how was your life growing up? And were there any struggles, physically, emotionally, or maybe even financially?

KW: My life growing up was pretty good. Emotionally, I feel like at the age of five, my parents got a divorce and it was really hard on me because I was still a young kid, going through something like that. Not understanding why our mom and dad are not together anymore, and as I got older, I kind of understood why they weren’t together anymore. Then I kind of just moved away from my mom and I’m more of my father’s daughter, so I stuck by his side. I just feel like that, yes, it came with financial struggles but it also taught me to be very humble and just make sure that you never flaunt your money and what you have because it can easily be taken away from you.

RA: You have also played in volleyball and softball. Other than the physical grit that you bring to the team, what else do you think you bring to the team?

KW: I feel like I bring such a positive mindset because I feel like even when we’re down, maybe by five or four, I’m still counting in my head, “That’s only four we could get back four, and still go above and beyond.” You know what I mean? So even though we’re like 3 and 0 right now, it’s okay. We were gonna do better because the season starts tomorrow. So I’m good with that. I just feel like everybody needs to be on a higher level mindset.

RA: So tell me about a time that you just felt really overwhelmed with struggles? And what did you do? Or how did you overcome these struggles?

KW: So I have one recently. Right now I’m looking for a job and I feel like it’s so rough because right now my dad’s having another kid and it’s crazy because this dude already has six kids and we’re in a two bedroom apartment. It’s crazy, and I feel somebody else needs to be working because it’s just my dad. So I’m over here just scrambling for jobs, also wanting to play sports, might get scouted for college. All these things at once. I have till December to get all my life right and that’s in three months. So it’s very overwhelming and it’s very scary because everything’s about to get so real. 

As soon as I turn 18 I’m going to get my car, get my license, I’m fully becoming a woman, and it’s crazy. But at the same time, I try to at least take a deep breath and remind myself one day at a time because if I don’t take it one day at a time, everything’s gonna fall apart. Lately, I’ve been looking for jobs and this morning, on my way to school, I drove and I dropped off a bunch of job applications and so now I’m just kind of waiting. 

RA:  How was your experience at this school? And what are some things they feel like you’ll change about it?

KW: I feel I will just change the student voice. Since I’m more open minded I will listen to others and I’ll actually take down opinions and advice and actually put it into a whole, like, I guess a checklist and we’ll go from there.

RA: And then a question about yourself. Would you say you are disciplined? And how do you maintain this discipline?

KW: I feel like I am disciplined. I maintain it because I have such a strict father. And I will always live by him because his rules make sense. It’s made me who I am today, as well as having a strict step-mom, she’s really good. They always just continuously remind me that they want me to be better than them. For example, I’ve already passed the point that my dad had me at 17. I’m already about to be 18 with no kid; I passed his point. I’m gonna go to college and graduate because they never did. Yeah, so it’s like, I want to be better but I want to do it not only for myself, but for them.

RA: What are your current priorities right now? And what are you worrying about?

KW: My current priorities right now are just getting a job and making money. I’m mainly worrying about just what I am going to do after high school. I already know what I want to study and what I want to major in, but it’s like, do I want to live in a dorm? Or do I want to live in an apartment? Do I want to go to campus? Or do I want to do it online? Do I want to stay in this state? Or do I want to go out of state? So it’s kind of like I’m more open minded to these types of things. But it’s also like I want to play sports there? 

RA: You said you already know what you want to study in though? What do you want to study after high school and college?

KW: So I would like to study psychology and become a psychologist.

RA: So what advice would you give to a teen younger than you, and also, what is one advice you would give to your younger self?

KW: Advice I would give to a person younger than me, I would just tell them that no matter how hard it gets during this pathway through high school, or through life, that you always just need to be okay with expressing how you feel to anyone close to you or talking to somebody that you need help with. You need to have a voice within what you got going on.

RA: Right. So now what would you tell yourself?

KW: Myself, I would tell them that I’m proud of you and that you just need to stay focused and not worry about having others love you. You need to learn to love yourself more, especially when it comes to men, because they’ll distract you.

RA: What are some lessons that life has taught you that you value?

KW: Lessons that I’ve learned that I value a lot, are that never to be so materialistic. It’s okay to have less than others. You never have to one-up somebody, you never have to be better than somebody. You don’t have to worry about other people and what other people have. You need to worry about what you have and be grateful for what you have and just be grateful that you are able to wake up every day, because some people are out here with disabilities and they can’t do nothing and they wish that they could so you need to be grateful for what you have.

RA: All right and my last question, why do you think of all the contestants that you deserve to be Miss Cardinal?

KW: I don’t think I deserve it, but I think that I would be a great choice out of all the contestants to be Miss Cardinal. I feel like my mindset is different and not only because I feel like I put others before myself, but because I feel like I have a good voice and a good vocabulary to persuade others to want to be better and do better for all. Not only our community, but for our students.