The Road To Miss Pennsylvania
If you would have asked 9-year old Alisa Vasquez if she could see herself competing for beauty pageants in the near future, she would have confidently said no as she knew she wanted to be an actress. Unfortunately, she was told by several agents that she did not fit the mold of a child actress as she looked too old for her age. Her mom, realizing how upsetting this was for Alisa, presented her with another opportunity.
To the outside world, pageants are seen as just a beauty competition. Nonetheless, to Vasquez and the other thousands of women that compete for one single title understand that it is so much more. Vasquez puts in a minimum of 15 hours a week to compete for an organization that shares the same values as her: giving back to the community, uplifting women, and promoting a healthy lifestyle. Miss America contestants contribute thousands of community service hours a year and have raised over $15 million for the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and scholarships since 2007.
Vasquez recently won the title of Miss Central Pennsylvania in January so that she could compete for Miss Pennsylvania which would ultimately lead her to Miss America. As the pageant nears, Vasquez begins to question the decisions that she has made leading up to this point. She did not apply for any internships for the upcoming summer because she strongly believes that this is her year to be selected as the next Miss Pennsylvania. However, what happens if everything that she has prepared for in the last nine years does not go as planned? With no future plans prepared outside of Miss Pennsylvania, Alisa depends on God and her willingness of wanting to achieve to guide her in being selected as the next Miss Pennsylvania.
To follow Alisa’s Miss Pennsylvania journey, please go to http://www.misspa.org/2018-pageant.html.