Arts are platform for Señorita San Luis

SAN LUIS, Ariz. - The first time María Duarte decided to compete in the Señorita San Luis pageant, she was a bit worried that she wasn't quite beautiful enough to win the crown, she recalls now.

But even if beauty is one of the qualities considered by the judges who choose the winner, a candidate has to have other attributes, she came to realize.

"It's not about beauty," she said. "It's about your feeling for your community ... it's about what I would do for my community."

And now as holder of the title of Señorita San Luis for the next year, the fourth-year student at San Luis High School will have the chance to translate community sentiment into community service.

And for the daughter of Wendy and Jorge Duarte of San Luis, Ariz., service to the community relates to the arts. Any person of any age can express himself or herself through one art medium or another, she said, and she wants every resident of San Luis to do just that.

This year, for the first time in the history of the pageant, each competitor was required to have community service platform that she would pursue if chosen as the pageant winner. Duarte's project is forging stronger community bonds through the arts.

"My project consists of creating opportunity for the community by creating a fine arts festival," she said. The festival could feature "art or drama - anything that relates to artistic expression."

But encouraging artistic expression would involve more than putting on a once-a-year festival, she added.

"I want to start a program where the community should be free to show their talents - in painting, drama, singing, any art."

And why is artistic expression so important?

"The way people express themselves shows how they are," she said. "They tell us who they are - and I want to know who they are."

For her part, one of Duarte's pastimes is mariachi music, and she sings mariachi songs as part of a group from the Gadsden Elementary School District that performs around the community.

She's also shown her athletic talent as a midfielder with San Luis High School's girls soccer team.

She hopes to earn a soccer scholarship to attend a community college and then graduate to a university. Her goal is to study for a career in physical therapy.

But along way, as she serves her one-year reign as Señorita San Luis. Then as she pursues her professional goals, Duarte wants to serve as a positive role model for young people, she says.

"I would say that my responsibilities are to (provide) good leadership and represent the community the best I can, and to try to support every single person in this community."

And she added: "I will be be there when they need me. However I can help, I will support them."