Kate Mack was born and raised in the Lehigh Valley and couldn’t be happier to represent the area in the Mrs. Pennsylvania America pageant in May. Her innate love for the stage manifested itself at the early age of three upon taking dance lessons and performing in her first recital with such panache that her instructor selected her as Miss Pennsylvania Dance Academy. Since then, Kate danced and cheered her way through the Southern Lehigh School District, graduating with academic honors and two all-star cheerleading team selections. Kate’s high school guidance counselor once wrote that she is “the epitome of altruism,” as revealed in her tireless involvement in extra-curricular activities and an early recognition of her calling to educate and serve youth, which was established firmly upon selection to the prestigious Pennsylvania Governor’s School for Teaching between her junior and senior year. Such a selfless work ethic extended through her years at Lehigh University, where Kate obtained a B.A. in English in three and a half years and an M.Ed. in Secondary Education in a year and a half, all while accepting honors as model initiate and recruitment chair of her sorority, Chi Omega; attaining Dean’s List; being selected Who’s Who Among American College Students; and co-founding the Association of Student Alumni, for which she served as VP Recruitment and General Vice President. Toward the end of her years at Lehigh, Kate met the man who would become her husband, James Mack, and spent some time settling into her teaching career promptly upon graduating. Despite a self-proclaimed departure from performing, dance and cheer re-introduced itself in Kate’s life a few short months later when the Lehigh Valley Outlawz professional indoor football team scouted her to perform with the counterpart Lady Outlawz professional dance team. After dancing for one year on the team, she also directed the affairs of the squad for the next two years, which included auditioning potential team members, scheduling appearances, choreographing halftime performances, and working in public relations. Throughout all of her ventures, Kate has competed in local and statewide pageants since middle school and most recently decided to compete in MRS. systems since marrying James, hanging up her dancing shoes, and discovering the work of Operation Smile, her platform cause. Through pageantry, Kate has found a new medium to raise awareness and funds for Operation Smile, namely, the Operation Smile Charity Golf Tournament, held Saturday, April 17th, 2010 at the Center Valley Club. The tournament raised enough funds to provide three children with life-changing cleft lip/palate repair surgeries, as well as 150 post-operative smile bags complete with toys, coloring books, and even a pocket mirror for recovering children to view their brand new smile. Kate hopes that through obtaining a state title, she can not only continue to serve others through work with her platform, but also precipitate a renewed interest in the glamour and excitement of pageantry in the Lehigh Valley via the establishment of a local preliminary competition.
