Photograph by Sebastian Widmann
No Plain Jane: Reyna Hernandez-Cervantes went for the Miss California crown on Aug. 1, but that's only a footnote on her lengthy list of achievements. She enters college this fall with sophomore status.
This beauty is on duty
Scholar, volunteer competed for Miss Junior California title
By Chantal Lamers
She always considered herself relatively simple--definitely not the beauty pageant type. She never pictured herself wearing rhinestone-studded tiaras, white satin sashes or prancing around in elegant gowns. With her deep brown eyes and matching dark brown hair, Reyna Hernandez-Cervantes, 18, says she's pretty normal. And she didn't think she'd earn the Miss Junior San Jose crown in a thousand years.
But someone, an anonymous someone, knew she wasn't any Plain Jane. To this day, Cervantes still doesn't know who nominated her for Miss Junior San Jose.
What the recent Willow Glen High School graduate does know is, one winter afternoon in 1998, she received a letter and application to apply for the title.
Aug. 1, the reigning Miss Junior San Jose jetted down south to Orange to compete for Miss Junior California and weekend jam-packed with pizza parties, talent shows and interviews. (The results of the competition were not available by press time.)
When she heard she was nominated, she thought it was just a joke.
"At first I thought it was a hoax," she says.
She read through the forms to make sure it was legitimate. She filled out two pages of short answers and took the envelope to the post office. But she didn't tell a soul about the application.
But this anonymous, mysterious someone probably had a good reason to nominate Cervantes. It could have been any number of people that Cervantes helped out over the years.
After school Cervantes tutored students at Willow Glen Elementary School. She spent a summer tutoring children for the elementary school's Summer Enrichment Program. She also tutored students at the Willow Glen Library.
In high school, Cervantes was a peer counselor for Willow Glen Middle School students who were failing their classes. Cervantes was the impetus behind one student who raised her grades--and, after a close call, ultimately pulled off graduation.
Seriously: Reyna Hernandez-Cervantes says she was so surprised someone had nominated her as a potential Miss California that she thought it might be a joke.
Photograph by Sebastian Widmann
It was in March, just a few months after she sent away her application, when Cervantes received a phone call from a pageant representative.
The representative asked her a few questions--and Cervantes had all the answers. She was asked, if she could go anywhere, where would she go? That was an easy one for Cervantes. She's always wanted to see Moloka'i, Hawaii. The small, secluded island isn't civilized. People who visit the island do so for its natural surroundings--not to buy tourist T-shirts or ashtrays.
The representative asked her what career path she envisions taking after high school. Once again, it was a no-brainer for Cervantes. She wants to be a forensic psychologist.
"The way people think intrigues me," she says.
It was a combination of peer counseling, an undying love for high school chemistry and a particular episode of Court TV that made Cervantes realize her calling.
Cervantes was also asked how she would describe herself. "Confident, open-minded and outspoken," she says.
In April 1999, Cervantes came home from school and found a big package sitting on her porch. Inside was a letter, congratulating her for winning the Miss Junior San Jose title. There was also a Jr. Miss America T-shirt, sash and crown.
"I never thought I'd hear back from them," she says. "I was so excited I called my mom."
Cervantes must have made a lot of calls to her mother over the years--as when she was named the captain of her varsity tennis team, when she became editor of her high school paper, when she earned a spot as a member of the California Scholarship Federation and the National Honor Society and, of course, when she graduated with honors from WGHS.
Cervantes plans to attend De Anza College and Santa Clara University this fall. She'll enter college with sophomore status.
Cervantes' hard work hasn't gone unnoticed. She has received about $5,000 worth of scholarships since May. She was awarded scholarships from the Italian Catholic Federation, Salute to Youth, James Guido "Point of Light" award in journalism, Willow Glen Elks Lodge Most Valuable Student and Most Outstanding Senior in Community Service at WGHS.
She also received a $2,500 San Jose Sharks all-star team scholarship. She and five other graduates from around the Bay Area were able to attend San Francisco Giants and Oakland S's baseball games. Upcoming games they get to attend include San Francisco 49ers and Oakland Raiders football games. They'll also have seats at a Warriors basketball game and a San Jose Sharks hockey game.
To some people, Cervantes may just be the kid behind the counter that serves them bagels or hot cups of joe at Peet's Coffee & Tea on Lincoln Avenue, where she's worked for two years. But she's more.
She's the volunteer who has stacked and organized canned food at the Second Harvest Food Bank. She's the girl who sings Christmas carols to sick children in local hospitals. She's the teenager spending Saturday mornings at beach and campus clean-ups. She's the young woman walking for AIDS and Leukemia.
Willow Glen, California Since 1992
