Student crowned Miss Azusa 2010

Citrus student Christina Alcaraz was crowned Miss Azusa on Feb. 6 in the Haugh Performing Arts Center.

The Miss Azusa 62nd Scholarship Project is a preliminary to the Miss California and then Miss America competitions.

Seven women vied for the title of Miss Azusa 2010 Four of the contestants—Christina Alcaraz, Stephanie Esber, Lauren Smolka and Amy Williams are current students at Citrus College. Claudia Grajeda is a student at UCLA but received her associates degree from Citrus College.

All of the contestants for the Miss Azusa Pageant competed in lifestyle and fitness in swimwear, talent, evening wear and on stage question competitions.

Each contestant also advocated for a cause that she chose to promote should they be chosen as Miss Azusa. These causes ranged from prevention of animal abuse to educational opportunities for students from low income households.

The winner of the Miss Azusa Pageant receives a scholarship for $1,000, the first runner-up receives one for $600, and second runner-up gets a $400 scholarship.
Alcaraz, who was the first runner-up in the 2009 Miss Azusa Pageant, proved the winner of this year’s pageant.

“I don’t even remember, but I was shaking, and it felt like the longest moment of my life after I heard my name,” Alcaraz said. “I was just in tears and so happy that all my hard work paid off. I remember being super disappointed last year when I didn’t win, but it gave me extra drive because I really did want to become Miss Azusa 2010.”

Peggy Martinez, who has worked for the Miss Azusa Pageant committee for 15 years and has been its executive director for eight years, said that Alcaraz exemplifies what it means to be Miss Azusa.

“Miss Azusa has to be someone who is dedicated, humble, smart and physically fit. Chrissy is all of those things,” Martinez said. “From the beginning to the end, I have seen it all, good and bad, so more or less, I already knew who the judges were looking at, and Chrissy was in my top three. It wasn’t surprising to me that she won.”

Christina Duke, the 2009 winner of the Miss Covina Pageant, said that she has seen Alcaraz work really hard and that she never gave up.

“She is very hardworking and made it her main focus to win this year,” Duke said. “It is very rare that contestants in these pageants go in and are perfect their first try, and it takes a lot of hard work to improve and she did it.”

Martinez said that she is looking forward to mentoring Alcaraz during her time as Miss Azusa.

“We will be working together for the next year,” she said. “I will be her second mom, and I will help her represent what people want to see most in an American girl.”

“I am looking forward to helping her be our representative and a person whom young ladies can look up to. I hope she takes away from this experience a sense of humility and respect for her crown,” Martinez said.

Alcaraz’s goals for her year as Miss Azusa are to promote her platform of “educating economically disadvantaged youth” and to prepare herself for the Miss California competition.

“I chose this platform because I do come from an economically challenged background, and I found Citrus College less than a mile away and it has helped me become the person I am today,” Alcaraz said.

“There are so many resources here, and I just want to let people know that they can achieve their goals of a higher education,” she said.

Alcaraz, who plans to either transfer to USC or Pepperdine University to major in broadcast journalism, said that those calling the Miss Azusa Pageant and others like it a beauty pageant are misinformed.

“Their misconceptions would be reshaped if they only knew that the Miss America Organization is the largest provider of scholarships for women in the world,” she said. “You have to be really committed to academic excellence, serving the community, maintaining a healthy lifestyle and becoming a positive role model.

Alcaraz cited the Miss America website, which she said states: ‘Some people call her a beauty queen. We call her a scholar.’