Miss Massachusetts USA 2009

Weymouth woman crowned Miss Massachusetts USA

By Ed Baker
Mon Dec 01, 2008, 04:20 PM EST Weymouth -

Alison Cronin had no desire to compete in a beauty pageant while she was growing up in Weymouth.“I did not wear dresses until I was in fifth grade,” said Alison, 21, who became Miss Massachusetts USA during a recent pageant in Boston. “If you asked me back then about wanting to be in a beauty pageant, I was would have said, gross! I did not own a Barbie doll, and I liked rolling around in the dirt and climbing trees.”Alison’s desire to compete in a beauty contest developed while she was in middle school. “When I was in middle school, I would plan to watch TV the night the Miss USA pageant was on,” she said. “I would try to guess who would be the top 10 finalists. I never thought I’d be competing in it.”Alison’s interest in the pageant encouraged her to compete and win the Miss Teen Massachusetts USA crown in 2005, the year she graduated from Weymouth High School. “I had a lot of fun while competing in that program,” she said.Since then Alison has been busy completing her studies as a communications major at New York University“I’m finishing my courses a semester early,” she said. “That is exciting.”Alison plans to spend the next several months preparing for the upcoming Miss USA pageant in Las Vegas on April 19, 2009.“The contest will be held two days before my 22 birthday,” she said. “I have a lot of things to do in preparation.”Some of the tasks Alison must complete include selecting a wardrobe and keeping herself physically fit.“I’ll have to select an evening gown and follow a workout regimen,” she said. “I have to work with an interview coach as well. There are a lot of things you have to do prepare for the contest.”Alison had to complete a preliminary competition and swimsuit competition to qualify as a finalist for Miss Massachusetts USA.“There was a preliminary competition that involved wearing an evening gown,” she said. “The next day there was a swimsuit competition.”The judges at both venues collectively reduced the amount of contestants to five finalists that included Alison, all of whom completed onstage interviews.“It was a good showcase to tell people who you are, and what you stand for,” Alison said. “I met a lot of really great girls from around the state that have all accomplished so much and are quite educated. The event is a beauty pageant, but it is not all about beauty. The pageant showcases confident women who are competing for the same crown.”Alison said she sought the Miss Massachusetts USA title to help support charities throughout the state.“I’m excited,” she said. “Getting the title is a good opportunity to serve Massachusetts by working with a lot of charities.”Helping people in need seems to be natural for AlisonShe realized the importance of putting the needs of others first from her mother Michele, a widow, and nursing home administrator at Vernon Hall in Cambridge.“She used to have us come to the nursing home to visit the residents who did not get a lot of visitors,” Alison said. “Her example of helping people in need has been reinforced to us.”Michele’s example is especially compelling for Alison because her father died when she was 13.“My mother raised my brother Don and I on her own,” she said. “Don is an emergency room nurse at a hospital in New York City and he has done quite well for himself. I consider Don one of my role models.”Alison said people in need have hopes and goals that are common to all humanity and this reality was especially evident when she visited Ghana, a West Africa nation, with some of her New York University classmates last year.“We were involved in community service and research while over there,” Alison said. “I got to talk with a lot of people. The project I did was to learn how the people in Ghana define themselves in the context of the world, and the African continent. It was a very big eye-opening trip.”She visited a Ghanaian orphanage and realized the youngsters share the same dreams of succeeding like young people in the U.S. have.“The kids in the orphanage have huge dreams and goals,” Alison said. “I realized that I had the tools to reach them. They really inspired me.”Alison said she hopes to inspire people to succeed and help those in need by winning the Miss USA crown in April.“I’m glad I can be a positive role model for girls in Weymouth, and the South Shore, and in Massachusetts,” she said.Article and picture courtesy of Wicked Local Weymouth