Each year, the Miss Ohio Scholarship Program (MOSP) provides an opportunity for young women to earn a scholarship to pursue their educational aspirations by competing for the title of Miss Ohio.
New this year is the Graham Automall People’s Choice Contest. The contest allows the people to vote one contestant into the top 11 as the eleventh semi-finalist. Each vote costs $1 and all of the proceeds benefit the MOSP.
Miss Mansfield Alissa Brumbaugh is among the hopefuls for this year’s Miss Ohio Pageant.
Brumbaugh is a native of Louisville, Ohio. She recently graduated from the University of Akron with a degree in Family and Consumer Sciences and a minor in Family Development.
This will be Brumbaugh’s third year as a Miss Ohio contestant. She previously competed in the 2011 preliminaries as Miss Miami Valley and in the 2012 preliminaries as Miss Montgomery County. In both the 2011 and 2012 Miss Ohio Pageants, she earned first-runner up.
“Third time’s a charm,” she stated.
With her third year as a contestant in the MOSP, Brumbaugh stated she wanted to represent Mansfield because this city feels like her second home. Even before she started competing in Miss Ohio she went to the Miss Ohio pageants at the Renaissance Theatre.
Miss Mansfield 2013 started competing in pageants in 2007. Her first competition was Miss Constitution in Louisville, Ohio. She also participated in the National Sweetheart Pageant in 2012, which is held in Illinois. With both of these pageants, Brumbaugh earned first-runner up.
She’s hoping to break the streak of runner-up this year with the Miss Ohio Pageant, but even if she doesn’t, she admitted, “Over three years I have made a lot of friends, and it’s so fun to see everyone and be able to bond with them. That’s what has kept me coming back because there’s a sense of community within the program.”
Brumbaugh’s platform of Life Skills: Educate, Enrich, Empower was formulated from her volunteer work in 2010 with the organization Project RISE. This group provides supplemental education services for homeless youths. She served as a tutor and taught life skills to the children, including communication skills, nutrition, and financial management.
Through her experience in the organization, she stated, “I gained an appreciation for the individuality of people I came across.”
“As Miss Ohio, I would want to focus on helping schools and the youth, but I would be open to talking about life skills with anyone.”
The Renaissance Theatre has hosted the pageant since 1980 and the tradition continues today.
To find out more about Miss Ohio Week 2013 go to http://missohio.org/.
