She’s beauty, she’s grace

Here she comes ... Miss Long Island.

Oceanside resident Hayley Riesel won this year’s Miss Long Island pageant at the July 12 competition at the Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts.

“It means that you can put your mind to anything,” Riesel, 23, said of her achievement. “You can do anything you put your mind to as long as you never give up, and I can be a positive role model for girls across Long Island.”

Riesel entered her first pageant at 13, and did Miss Teen New York when she was 14. Around the same time, Riesel was fighting neuroblastoma at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan.

While she was treated at Sloan, she was in the same waiting room as younger children. Riesel said seeing people younger than her go through cancer treatment made her realize that she had it comparatively easy. As Miss Long Island 2016, she said she wants to make an appearance at the hospital and spend the day with childhood cancer patients. “Just really give back anyway I can,” she said.

As Miss Long Island, her cause is childhood cancer, and she wants to raise money for research.

The pageant had interview, eveningwear and question portions. “It’s not just about beauty on the outside. It’s about beauty on the inside,” Riesel said, adding that the interview is about getting to know the contestant as a person and how they want to help others.

Riesel had entered last year, earning third runner-up, and did not do well in the question section, which she called “the most nerve-wracking part.”

This time, she studied by watching the news every night. Her question: was NBC right to drop presidential candidate Donald Trump when he made derogatory comments about Mexican immigrants. “I understand why NBC cut ties with Donald Trump,” Riesel said in her answer. “But everyone is entitled to their own opinion and that’s what makes America beautiful.”

The next pageant for Riesel is Miss New York USA in January. Trump owns the Miss Universe Organization, which runs the Miss USA pageant.

Riesel also prepared by working out six days a week. “Fitness is a big part of my life,” she said.

She graduated from University at Buffalo last year with a bachelor’s in mathematics education, and is now working on her master’s in education at Queens College. She wants to be a math teacher after she graduates. “I love kids, and I love math,” she said. “And I love inspiring others, and I want to make kids enjoy learning math.

Riesel lives with her parents: Gary, a sales representative, and Hope, who works for the Oceanside school district. Her 18-year-old brother, Eric, just graduated from Oceanside High School and will head to Columbia University in the fall.

“I spend a lot of time with my family,” Riesel said. “We live on the water so we go waterskiing and boating and beaching.”