Introducing this week’s fabulous campus celeb, Melissa Beauvais! From pageants to aerial performances, this girl does it all. Melissa was recently crowned New Hampshire’s Miss University at the Strafford County pageant held Septermber 17th here at UNH. With her newly claimed title, Melissa will advance on to compete in the Miss New Hampshire pageant this coming spring with even greater hopes of competing for the title of Miss America! We met up with Melissa to find out she’s much more than a gorgeous girl, but super talented and smart too!
First off, congrats on becoming New Hampshire’s Miss University 2014! How long have you been competing in pageants?
Thank you! I have only competed for a short period, I have done Miss New Hampshire USA 2013 my junior year of college, and I did another my senior year of high school 2010. However, I used to dance competitively and have been dancing for about 19 years now. I found out about the Miss University Pageant the week before the actual pageant and figured why not just do one more!
So we know that with your title, you will move on to compete in the Miss New Hampshire pageant with hopes of moving on to Miss America! What kind of prep work is entailed to compete in front of such large audiences?
Having such little experience competing in the “Pageant world,” I guess you could say I really do not have much experience with the prep work. However, from my competitive dance background, I would say that I plan on coming up with an entertaining and technical performance for the talent portion of the competition along with an elaborate and exciting costume. I also plan on eating healthy (we shall see how long that lasts) so that I feel confident in the swimsuit portion of the pageant along with working out/dancing. In addition, I plan to attend as many pageants and events as possible so that I can get an idea of what some of the competition may be. As for competing in front of large audiences, I just look at it as if I were to be the only one standing on the stage, and the audience not existing. If the lights are bright enough that usually helps blind me from even noticing the audience existence. I have performed numerous times in front of large audiences so that should not be an issue, I guess the next step would be preparing for the on stage question and speaking in front of a large audience.
Tell us about the Miss America organization and a little about your platform you plan to advocate.
The Miss America Organization is a not-for-profit organization that has maintained a tradition for many decades of empowering American women to achieve their personal and professional goals, while providing a forum in which tthey can express their opinions, talent and intelligence. The Organization is one of the nation’s leading achievement programs and the world’s largest provider of scholarship assistance for young women. Last year, the Miss America Organization and its state and local organizations made available more than $45 million in cash and scholarship assistance. As for my platform, I plan on advocating awareness for Autism Spectrum Disorders. As autism becomes more prevalent, I believe it is important to maximize support and funding for autism research, surveillance, awareness, and service. I am still working on my platform, since this is all so new to me.
You’re also a member of the UNH dance Company as well as the UNH aerial portion of the company, which we think is so cool! How long have you been dancing for and how did you get into Aerial?
I have been dancing for 19 years, and I got into aerial my senior year of high school. I took a summer intensive here at UNH and fell in love with it, and that was a big factor as to why I chose to come to UNH.
What other organizations or clubs are you involved with here at UNH?
Aside from being a full time student, Miss University, a dancer on the UNH Dance Company and being an aerialist, I am also in the sorority Alpha XI Delta.
Where do you ultimately see yourself, say 10 years down the road?
Most importantly, I hope to see myself happy. In addition, I hope to be successful and well off at the job of my dreams, potentially married and with children, and if I am lucky, I will be a former Miss America titleholder. ;)
Share with us a fun fact about you most people may not know.
I held a plank over the summer for a half an hour in order to win a cupcake…