Alumni Feature: Justine Izewski '13

Recently, she won the title of Miss Metro Chicago and competed in the Miss Illinois USA pageant in May, the preliminaries to Miss USA. Though she didn’t advance in that pageant, she also recently won the role to represent the Midwest in the Petite USA National Pageant, which is in Chicago at the end of July.

Though she never participated in pageants before, she was drawn to them for the opportunity to advocate for causes she cares about.

“You can be any age and any marital status for the [Miss USA] pageant, and it’s more inclusive now,” she said. “I’m very passionate about my work as a teacher and advocate for programs that are underfunded in schools.”

Justine is a music teacher at the U-46 Elementary School District in Elgin, which was her elementary school district before coming to SFHS. A friend of her family attended and recommended SFHS for high school and the rest is history.

Justine said her love of music began when she started voice lessons in 6^th grade.

“It was more pop-based, but then I met a teacher who works with the Lyric Opera of Chicago and she inspired me, and it opened so many more doors of opportunity for me,” Justine said.

Justine also credits her performance career to her time at SFHS, where she was in chamber choir, musicals, Blue Band (advanced band), and worship team.

“SFHS helped me become a better performer,” she said, citing gratitude for former Choir Director Nina Schroeder and Band Director Bob Mamminga. She also expressed thanks to her Spanish teachers, as the school where she currently teaches is dual language.

In the acting sphere, she recently recorded a commercial with actors Stacey Dash from the movie Clueless and Todd Bridges from the TV show Different Strokes. You can view the commercial here: https://youtu.be/WeiCk9BzLPU?si=Oz8Zr-GHUIXiSNm4.