Racking up the pageant crowns

Tori Toma-Krohnfeldt, 13, has been named Miss Teen Laguna Beach and will compete next weekend in the 29th annual Miss Teen California pageant in Los Angeles.

Tori, an eighth grade student at Thurston Middle School, sent in an application detailing her volunteerism and five photographs to the organization that holds the pageant.

She was then selected to go on to the state competition.

Tori’s family raised the $695 state pageant sponsorship fee, which covers hotel accommodations, meals and the competition itself, by collecting sponsor fees and in-kind donations from local businesses, family and friends.

The JunQuie’s boutique in Dana Point provided Tori with two dresses and jewelry, and local restaurant Gokos was a major sponsor.

Tori is active in drama and is president of a new campus organization, the S Club.

Her mother, Nikki Krohnfeldt, is the president of Soroptimists International of Laguna Beach; her daughter’s club receives an annual budget from the parent organization, and performs volunteer work in the area.

The club entered the Sawdust Winter Fantasy’s tree-decorating contest with handmade ornaments “” framed photos of soldiers who have died in Iraq “” and won $250, which was used for postage for care packages that were sent to soldiers abroad.

The club is currently renovating two of the rooms for young girls at the Friendship Shelter, for which members are painting and providing new linens.

The club plans to start a nonprofit called the Share the Food Foundation, in which families who buy bulk products at Costco would donate half the food to feed the hungry.

In her spare time, Tori is found at Thalia St. Beach, where she skims and surfs.

“If she could, she would live at the beach 24/7,” her mother said.

Tori also studied dance for several years.

She has already appeared in more than a dozen pageants, and won a national Hawaiian Tropic pageant when she was 8.

“It was exciting,” Tori recalled. “I was young, so I didn’t know that much about [being in pageants].”

But she learned a lot about the process through the series of pageants that led to the national competition, she said.

She also got to meet girls from all over the country and make new friends.

Following her win, she modeled for a pool-toy company.

Tori was also able to crown her little sister Tia, 8, in a competition she in turn won; as a past winner, Tori traveled to different shows to crown winners.

The girls’ mother is a pageant veteran herself, participating in the Miss Teen California and Miss Oklahoma pageants, among others.

She has been crowned Miss Congeniality.

“I also grew a lot as a person when I did pageants; I learned poise, and to present myself in a professional manner,” Krohnfeldt said.

But the Miss Teen California competition focuses more on community service and grades than looks, Krohnfeldt said; there are no talent or swimsuit competitions, and girls will be docked points if they’re caught with their cellphones.

Parents will not be allowed into the girls’ hotel rooms, which will be chaperoned.

The age range of the contestants is 13 to 19; Tori will be the youngest participant, so her mother doesn’t expect a crown, but hopes her daughter will make it to the top 20 finalists.

“I think this will be a really good learning experience,” she said.

The winner of the state competition will win a $10,000 college scholarship, $5,000 in cash, an all-expenses-paid trip to Las Vegas for the national competition, gowns, luggage, a camera, a watch and the usual pageant accouterments: a crown, sash, trophy and bouquet.

There will also be scholarships for four runners-up and those voted Most Likely to Succeed, Miss Photogenic, Community Service and several other categories.

“With five children, I’m looking at this as an avenue to pay for education,” Krohnfeldt said.