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Howell College Student Crowned Miss New Jersey
By Keith Hagarty
 | | --Photos Courtesy Of The Official Website Of Miss New Jersey Thanking all her friends and family who supported her every step of the way, 22 year old township resident and 2003 Howell High School graduate, Amy Polumbo, was recently crowned Miss New Jersey 2007. |
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Amy Polumbo has come a long way since her carefree days as a little girl running around on the playground of Taunton Elementary School.
Last week, the energetic theater-performance major at Wagner College, Staten Island, added her biggest achievement yet: being crowned Miss New Jersey 2007.
"It was quite a feat. I was not expecting it all," said the effervescent 22 year old. "This was only my second pageant ever. I won my local (pageant) and then I suddenly won Miss New Jersey, which was very surprising."
In order to earn a place as one of only 28 contestants vying for the crown in Ocean City last Saturday, Polumbo had entered and won her only other pageant appearance as Miss Seashore Line. Consumed with her studies and performing interests, the decision to enter her first pageant was nothing more than a fun thing to try for Polumbo.
"I've been very busy performing in musical theater, and never really considered myself a 'Pageant Patty,' but I gave it a try and I won, which was fantastic, and then at Miss New Jersey, I ended up winning again," said Polumbo. "It's a dream come true. I still can't believe it."
The Miss New Jersey Education Foundation is a scholarship organization whose mission is to provide educational assistance to young women between the ages of 17 and 24. The program also provides these young women with a forum from which they can raise awareness and affect change for social issues that are important to them.
Surrounded by fellow beauty queens, many of whom have devoted their lives to the pageant circuit, Polumbo never expected to do as well as she did in her first attempt in the Miss New Jersey pageant.
"With everything that I've gone about in life, you have to believe that you can achieve it in order to take the crown home," said Polumbo, "but being that it was my first year, I never really expected it, and it was even more of surprise because of that. I just wanted to go in there being myself because I was kind of just trying to take everything in for next year," she said. "I ended up winning, which is great, but now I'm a little nervous because I know I have a lot to prepare for."
While a specific date and location have yet to be established, Polumbo will now represent the Garden State as she prepares to compete in the upcoming Miss America pageant.
It's an opportunity Polumbo had only dreamed of.
"When I was about five years old, my mom got me a Miss America coloring book once, and I actually brought it with me to the Miss New Jersey pageant as a good luck charm," she said.
Soon after the Miss New Jersey crown was placed on her head, Polumbo broke down in tears of joy, saying she was a whirlwind of emotion, running in a thousand different directions as she shared her achievement with her loved ones.
"Most of my family was there and a lot of my friends too," said Polumbo. "After I won, I started to call some of my good friends from school and those that I've grown up with, the people from Howell."
While the proud "Howell girl" recently moved to Freehold with her family, she had been a township resident her entire life, saying there's no better place to have grown up.
"I love it. I love my town, and I'm so proud to get the chance to represent Howell Township in the Miss America pageant," she said. "I wouldn't have wanted to have it any other way. I'm very proud of where I come from."
While as of this writing she has yet to hear from any township officials, Polumbo said if she's asked, she'd welcome the opportunity to participate in the town's festivities, such as the upcoming Howell Day and visiting and speaking with students in the township's schools.
"That would be wonderful," she said.
Polumbo credited her mentor-voice teacher Regina McGowan, Peter Bruno, and Carol Taylor, director of the Miss Seashore Line pageant, as pillars of support during the competition in helping to soothe her nerves.
"Probably not knowing what to expect next was the toughest thing because it was so new to me," Polumbo said of her pageant experience. "So I was very anxious."
Performing on stage since she was a girl helped ease Polumbo's transition under the spotlight. She performed last year in the lead role of "Ariel" in "The Voyage of the Little Mermaid" at MGM Studios in Orlando, Florida.
"That was really exciting," she said. "I have a lot of stage experience, and I'm used to being around a lot of people, and I'm used to having an audience, but the one thing I have to get used to is the camera because I'm not so familiar with that."
Polumbo dazzled the crowd and judges during the talent portion, singing "Astonishing" from the Broadway musical "Little Women," and was right on the money during the interview and swimsuit competition.
Her beauty and talent aside, Polumbo further impressed the judges with her platform to promote Internet safety awareness, an issue which has personally affected someone near and dear to her.
"It's a very pressing issue today," she said. "I chose this because of a personal issue that happened with it to someone in my family, and because I hear about the dangers on the news all the time."
Polumbo hopes she can parlay her Miss New Jersey crown into a greater awareness and education of Internet safety issues to help protect children from cyber-predators and dangerous situations.
"I don't think enough is being done in schools today," she said. "I'd like to capitalize some of the momentum into much needed curriculum in schools today focusing on Internet safety, and I also want to reach out to parents so they too can learn the ins and outs of the computer since most of their children tend to know it a lot better than they do."
For those young girls currently attending her alma maters of Taunton Elementary School and Howell High School, Polumbo offers some simple advice to suit any chosen path in life.
"Always be yourself and never change who you are because people are going to love you a lot more if you're a real person, and not trying to be someone else," she said.
Staying true to yourself is key in all of life's situations, win or lose, and one that Polumbo plans to take with her as she steps onto the stage for the first time vying to be crowned the next Miss America.
"I know I have a lot of work to do, but I really hope to represent my state in the best possible way I can," she said. "I'm really excited. I'm ready to do a great job and know that I can."
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