Friday, Jul. 17, 2015 by Kate O’Toole, Special to the Times-Mirror| 0 comments | Email this story
Alyssa Howell, a 2013 Stone Bridge graduate, will be competing in the Miss America beauty pageant as Miss Nebraska on Sept. 13.
Inspired by her cousin who received cochlear implants through the Children’s Miracle Network, Howell created a platform to work with the hospitals to impact kids’ lives. With the help of the community, she visits the hospitals and provides canvas miracle bags with Play Doh, coloring books, blankets and crayons.
Her platform ties into her future career goal as a child life specialist. She hopes to help children patients understand their procedure and ensure they are not leaving the hospital traumatized.
Participating in pageants is something Howell says transforms each competitor’s life in some way or another, whether it is by improving their talent or perfecting their interview skills. The $50,000 worth of Miss America scholarship money isn’t a bad deal, either.
But Howell says it is about so much more.
“Especially with my platform, it gives you the opportunity to do amazing things for other people,” she said. “Every competitor gets to do that with their platform. They get those opportunities that you never would have gotten without the title.”
Howell will have to put her college education on hold as she takes a year off of school to focus on the Miss America pageant. She says being Miss Nebraska is a full-time job. She spends her days traveling and meeting with various specialists and coaches in preparation for the competition.
Howell didn’t become serious about competing until she moved to Nebraska to attend Creighton University and placed fourth in the Miss Nebraska competition last year.
After a year of hard work improving her platform, she has already won $11,500 worth of scholarship money and is looking forward to competing in the Miss America pageant this fall.
Kate O'Toole 