On a cold Thursday night, in a sold-out Washington Hall, 17 girls fought for the chance to hold the coveted title of “Miss ND.”
“Miss Holy Cross,” freshman Naomi O’Connor, ultimately won the crown.
O’Connor is, however, not a student at Holy Cross College, but a resident of Badin Hall. She was chosen as Holy Cross’ entry into the competition since the College did not present a contestant, O’Connor told The Observer.
O’Neill Family Hall hosted the annual pageant, bringing the Notre Dame community together for a night of laughter, talent, beauty and charity.
Miss Notre Dame contributes to the Jubilee Initiative for Financial Inclusion, an organization created and run by students of the University and Saint Mary’s College to provide financial education programs and short-term loans to South Bend community members. The pageant also held a live auction for the Center for the Homeless, with a signed football from current members of the Notre Dame football team.
As the pageant began, O’Neill residents prepared a walkout video for the hosts, junior Ristian David and sophomore Timothy Katz. Sixteen contestants were present with representatives from nearly every women’s dorm as well as Holy Cross College and the Undergraduate Community at Fischer. This year’s contest was judged by four members of the Notre Dame football team: sophomore CJ Carr, freshman Elijah Burress, freshman Nolan James Jr. and junior Aneyas Williams.
“I was definitely nervous,” Katz said of being asked to lead the show. “We had some impressive judges, but we had a great time.”
Each contestant then presented her unique talent. Before, during and after each performance, the crowd – especially contestants’ fellow residents – would whoop and holler, bringing unmatched energy to the theater. Miss Breen-Phillips was first to go, sharing her rankings of various football players as girls, which got more than a couple laughs from the judges. Miss Badin followed her up with an impressive display of strength, deadlifting and squatting members of the audience. The judges offered a cheeky response to her act, saying she was probably stronger than their kicking squad – a harsh dig at certain shortcomings during the previous football season. Miss Cavanaugh brought her trendy gloving skills to stage, followed by Miss Farley’s recitation of the presidents, offering a little shout-out to O’Neill’s president, Aidan “Bitsy” Flynn.
To break up the acts, each section within O’Neill Hall made skits to present to the crowd, to ultimately vote on the best one. Section 4B offered those with rotted brains a much-needed Instagram Reels break, and 3B made a clever parody to the song, “God’s Plan,” entitled “Mob’s Plan.”
The acts then continued, with Miss Fischer performing a humorous singing routine, followed with Miss Flaherty’s rendition of “Never Enough” from “The Greatest Showman.” Miss Holy Cross performed an acrobatic comedy act featuring skilled harmonica playing, which had judges and the audience roaring with laughter. Miss Johnson Family presented a banana themed standup and pre-recorded dance act.
Sections 2A and 2B showed their skits, then Miss Lewis performed a song on the spoons, Miss Lyons brought the house down with “Before He Cheats,” Miss McGlinn fiddled a familiar ND favorite, “Rattlin’ Bog,” and Miss Pasquerilla West brought us Sabrina Carpenter with a spot on impression: towel, dress, boots and all.
Closing out the skits was 1A and reigning champ 4A. Miss Ryan gave riveting recorder renditions of the Notre Dame Fight Song and “FE!N,” and Miss Walsh brought back the 2016 vibes with a Just Dance performance. Miss Welsh Family showed off her moves with not one, but two costume quick-changes involving animal onesies. Miss Pasquerilla East helped two audience members find love on her personal dating show, and Miss Howard closed out the acts with a “Chubby Bunny” challenge, shoving as many marshmallows as she could into her mouth.
Using location tagged QR codes, audience members voted for their favorite acts, and the top five would move on to round two. During voting, the hosts shared that all ticket proceeds would support the local charity, JIFFI, and they auctioned off a signed football, with proceeds going to the South Bend Center for the homeless.
Then, the top five acts were announced to move on: Miss Pasquerilla East, Miss Holy Cross, Miss Breen-Phillips, Miss Walsh and Miss Lyons. The judges then had their chance to ask the girls questions directly. Questions varied from “What’s one secret talent your parents don’t know about?” to “If Notre Dame was a person at a party, what would they be doing?” The girls took the opportunity to crack jokes, both about themselves and about Notre Dame party culture (many saying they think Notre Dame would be on Canvas at the party).
While the judges deliberated amongst themselves, 3B’s “Mob’s Plan” skit took home the title of best skit. At last, a decision was made. All seventeen contestants came back out on stage, and the hosts revealed the winner of 2026 Miss ND: Miss Holy Cross. However, it was soon revealed that she was not in fact from Holy Cross College, nor has she ever stepped foot there, but rather she herself is a Badin Hall resident, proudly representing the Saints when they had no one registered to represent them.
“We have a lot of friends in O’Neill. They were like, ‘Can you do it?’ and … I like to stand up for people who don’t have anyone to stand up for them,” she joked.
She received her crown and sash, and gratefully accepted the title of Miss ND. Her joy was palpable, especially to the judges. In her acceptance speech, O’Connor, speaking to her fellow contestants, said, “You guys are all so funny and talented. I love you all.”
“I liked … Miss Holy Cross’ speech at the end when she won,” Carr said. “I thought she did a great job. We really liked her dances and her jokes and it was good to see her accept the award.”
O’Connor shared how she felt about the win and what she gained from the experience.
“It feels great. Really, if you told me last week, I’d be Miss Notre Dame, I probably wouldn’t have believed you since I wouldn’t have known I was participating, yet here I am. So, it’s really an honor, and I met a lot of nice girls," O'Connor stated. She revealed she was thinking about her homework the whole time, but the win was worth the time commitment.
