Politics & Government

Miss New Hyde Park Recalls Experience at Miss Teen Pageant

Alexandra Rasch to hold events for New Hyde Park kids, families.

By any estimation, Alexandra Rasch’s beauty pageant on the weekend of Jan. 19-20 was a disaster.

“My dress was ripped, my heel was broken,” the New Hyde Park Memorial student said at the February 5 meeting of the New Hyde Park Village Board at the village hall, noting that she had to wear heels all three days of the Miss Teen New York competition because she forgot flats and her roommate walked behind her on the runway and “it made me so nervous that I really didn’t have time to properly pose.”

Lu Sierra, the walking coach at the pageant, was yelling at her during runway classes asking why she was running as the rubber bottom had come off her heel.

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“I couldn’t wear these and these are supposed to be my competition shoes and I couldn’t wear them because I was like unstable,” she said. “I was like wobbling and it was bad.”

Even though she didn’t place – half of the contestants were cut in the first round – she is still going to compete on the pageant circuit.

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“I had a lot of fun, it was a good experience, gonna keep competing. I’m going to keep going with it.”

The competition was held at the SUNY Purchase Performing Arts Center and had 50 entries for the teen section with another 150 for the Miss pageant, with the crown eventually going to Miss Long Island, who hails from Smithtown.

“I was happy she won, she was the most deserving, I really liked her,” Rasch said. “At the top five I stood there backstage and was like ‘she should win.’ She was the nicest, most cordial. There were a lot of girls I was really surprised that didn’t make top 20 like South Shore teen.”

Rasch said that she would like to go back to the Miss New York pageant next year, and believes that she sees a path via a pattern of past winners of that competition having already won Miss Long Island.

“I’m considering competing for (Miss) Long Island because if Long Island can win two years in a row, they can win three years in a row; they know how to train their queens.”

In April she plans to compete in Miss TEEN (Teens Exemplifying Excellence Nationally) New York, which goes to Houston in June, leaving time to be a part of the Miss Long Island Teen competition in August.

“I’ve been thinking about both of them actually, it’s just a matter of the entrance fees,” she said.

Miss Teen New York was the most expensive competition this season – $2,000 as compared to $400-800 at most pageants.

“It all builds up, like my single mother spent like $5,000 on this pageant that I didn’t even place in and I ripped my dress,” she said. “I started thinking about it like afterwards, I’m like ‘I looked like Cinderella, didn’t I?’”

After returning home, the faux pas at the competitions did not stop her from again addressing the village board regarding proposals for activities and fundraisers, this time being a charity gala/ dinner “where other city officials from Long Island can attend using some of our local resources and having an auction using donated items such as baskets and gift certificates and raffles, giving the proceeds to a charity of our choice, especially after Hurricane Sandy when everyone is having a tough time.”

Rasch had previously proposed other activities for the community, including a storytelling activity – for which she has books picked out and will be held on the second Thursday of every month – and a family movie night which will be held on the fourth Friday of every month.

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