Iḷisaġvik student to participate in Miss Earth pageant to spread the word about Arctic issues and Indigenous practices

Iḷisaġvik College student Larissa Schierholt will represent Alaska in the 2025 Miss Earth USA Pageant with a goal to bring awareness to the warming of the Arctic, mental health needs in Indigenous communities and the the importance of subsistence practices.

Schierholt, who is originally from Bethel, lives in Southcentral Alaska and has been remotely attending Iḷisaġvik’s Allied Health program in Utqiaġvik. She did not participate in pageants growing up and this summer decided to try one for the first time.

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While Schierholt did not place in the Miss Alaska USA pageant this summer, the experience made her realize how much opportunity such events provide to spread awareness about important issues.

The Miss Earth USA national pageant, which will be held in Orlando, Florida, from Jan. 2 to 5, is an attempt to bring together the beauty industry and awareness of environmental issues, and that mission strongly resonated with Schierholt, so she decided to get in.

“I’m super excited, more than anything, to have a pageant so big and so focused on the environment,“ she said. ”It’s unique and it’s diverse, and I’m just so excited to meet everyone and go to Orlando. I’ve never been there before, so I think it’s going to be a lot of fun."

While the warming environment will be a common theme at the pageant, Schierholt said she hopes to share her perspective from the Arctic.

“In Alaska, the permafrost in these villages is melting, and people’s homes are being affected,” she said. “Being able to bring perspective from a place that not a lot of people come to, it’s important.”

For Schierholt, protecting the environment goes hand in hand with Indigenous values.

For thousands of years, “all Indigenous communities around the world, we had been living on the land and with it and protecting it,” she said. “If we start listening more to what the indigenous people of those lands are saying, that would be a better place environmentally right now.”

Another issue Schierholt said she hopes to highlight is the need for mental health resources in Indigenous communities where people are statistically more likely to commit suicide. Supporting the cultural traditions can be a way to nurture resilience, she said.

“A lot of us now are in urban areas or cities or have lost that connection to our culture and start taking those steps to reconnect, I think that can be a form of prevention,” she said.

Schierholt grew up in Bethel and after moving to Southcentral Alaska, regularly visited her home community to stay connected to her family and culture. Her visits are more rare now but she tries to engage in subsistence activities while living a more urban life. She said she goes berry picking and fishing and helps her family process and can fish.

A youth support and project coordinator at Knik Tribe, Schierholt leads suicide prevention and culture camp activities. She is also a full-time student at Iḷisaġvik.

“It was my first pick, especially because it’s Alaska’s only tribal college, and even though I can’t get my bachelor’s and master’s degree there, I wanted to start there and keep it local,” she said.

Schierholt hasn’t been to Utqiaġvik but hopes to visit after she graduates in 2026.

“I’m excited,” she said.

“We are so lucky to have her enrolled at Iḷisaġvik College,” college staff said in a Facebook post. “We are impressed with her abilities, thoughtfulness and care toward others. She is truly a beautiful person!”