CLARKSVILLE, TN – As a first-generation college student originally from Paso Robles, California, Rylei Johnson is using her time at Austin Peay State University to maximize her impact through community outreach and education.
The freshman integrated early childhood education major recently won the Teen Tennessee Petite title and is now preparing to represent the state at the national competition in Chicago this July.
Petite USA is a pageant system specifically celebrating women 5 feet, 6 inches and shorter, providing a dedicated platform for contestants to showcase their unique qualities and abilities. By highlighting these participants, Petite USA challenges traditional beauty standards while offering valuable opportunities for personal growth, professional networking, and international representation.
As she prepares for the national stage, Johnson continues to grow her nonprofit organization, the Women’s Organization of Wellbeing (W.O.W.) Initiative. The organization regularly holds fundraisers and donation drives for women’s support centers in Clarksville, with the ultimate goal of making Tennessee a safer place for women.
With the help of APSU’s Honors Program, the W.O.W. Initiative recently hosted a “Pie Your Peers” event, which helped raise $400 for the Serenity House Women’s Shelter. Johnson said this event not only surpassed her donation goal, but it also proved the university’s sense of community – even Dr. Mike Licari, APSU’s president, showed up to participate.
Johnson was inspired by the three previous generations of women in her family, who all fought to be independent and raise their children in the best conditions possible.
“It’s all these things impacting women that I’m just so sick of, and I wanted to make a change in that way,” Johnson said. “I’m so everlovingly passionate about it that I was like, ‘I have to do something about this. I have to try.’”
She said APSU has provided her with plenty of support in growing this initiative and achieving her personal goals. Outside of the Honors Program, Johnson is also active in Chi Omega Women’s Fraternity, Baptist Collegiate Ministries, and the Student Tennessee Education Association.
“APSU has always encouraged me, whether it be mentors, teachers, or just positive influences, to always strive to be the best I possibly can be,” Johnson said.
She has always wanted to help people, and with a love for tutoring and volunteering at elementary schools, education made perfect sense as a career. She has already learned a great deal in the Eriksson College of Education during her first semester, and she said Assistant Professor Dr. Charles Gonzalez has been a role model and inspiration for the kind of teacher she aspires to be.
Johnson said her pageant and student experiences are intertwined, and her performance in one area affects the other.
Her education studies have helped her develop valuable skills — including public speaking, professionalism, and global awareness — all of which enhance her pageant performance.
In turn, the pageant competition has boosted her confidence and increased her openness to new experiences. She competed virtually against 5,000 contestants for the Teen Tennessee Petite title, an experience that has strengthened her resilience as a student.
“Being in pageants helps me as a student, I think, because it shows me that I really can do anything,” Johnson said.
Ultimately, Johnson hopes to combine these experiences in her career as a preschool or elementary teacher, and she feels APSU has given her access to the resources to do so.
“[The Eriksson College of Education] has really displayed to me how I want to be as an individual and as a teacher in the future,” Johnson said.