At 3 years old, Molly McKenna watched Irish dancers perform at the Pittsburgh Irish Festival, turned to her mother and said, “Mom, I want to do that.”

More than a decade later, the Mt. Lebanon native and Mt. Lebanon High School graduate has been named the 2026 Miss Smiling Irish Eyes, earning one of the most visible roles in Pittsburgh’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

Not long after that moment at her first festival, McKenna’s mother enrolled her in Irish dance lessons. McKenna remembers “tapping around the house, throwing my feet around thinking I was dancing,” the start of a passion that would lead to years of involvement in Pittsburgh’s Irish community.

“This is just really a dream come true,” McKenna said.

McKenna grew up in Mt. Lebanon and attended St. Bernard School before enrolling at Mt. Lebanon High School.

“I wanted to go to a bigger high school and meet new people,” she said.

At Mt. Lebanon she participated in a variety of activities. She was a three-year letterman in track and field, a three-year member of the golf team and part of the school’s STEM Academy and Pre-med Club. She graduated in 2023 with highest honors and membership in the National Honor Society.

McKenna now attends Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana, where she is a junior double majoring in biology and chemistry. A presidential scholarship recipient, she hopes to attend medical school after graduation and would like to eventually return to the Pittsburgh area.

“I’m ready to come closer to home now,” she said.

Irish dance has remained a constant throughout her life. McKenna has been a member of the Shovlin Academy of Irish Dance since she was 5 and has performed in the Pittsburgh St. Patrick’s Day Parade for years, as well as at the Pittsburgh Irish Festival, local nursing homes and community events. She also volunteered as an assistant teacher at the dance academy and currently dances with the Notre Dame/St. Mary’s Irish Dance Team.

McKenna was president of the junior division of Junior Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians (LAOH), where she helped recruit members and volunteered at events including Santa Breakfast and a national convention hosted in Pittsburgh.

“It was the LAOH ladies who convinced me to apply,” she said.

As Miss Smiling Irish Eyes, McKenna will make appearances leading up to the Pittsburgh St. Patrick’s Day Parade, including television segments and community events. She will be joined by court maidens Kennedy Kuntz and Sydney Hoover.

Looking ahead to the parade, McKenna said she is grateful for the opportunity to represent a community that has supported her for years.

“I’m very thankful and very excited for this,” she said. “Even my high school teachers and my coaches always let me be myself. That gave me the confidence to put myself out there and apply.”

The Pittsburgh St. Patrick’s Day Parade takes place Saturday, March 14, at 10 a.m.