Miss USUE named “People’s Choice” at Miss Utah pageant

By SCOTT FROEHLICH
Contributing Writer

This past June, Alexandria Burrola competed in the Miss Utah Pageant, placing in the top-12. Burrola was also named ‘People’s Choice’ in the contest, which earned her a $500 scholarship. Crowned Miss USU Eastern in December of last year, the journey to royalty was one of uncharted territory and personal discovery.
As a softball player, Burrola would have never described herself as a “girly-girl,” nor would she have ever seen herself competing in anything other than sports. “I never, ever thought that I would be in a pageant in my life. I’m usually in a uniform, in the dirt playing softball,” she said. It was her cousin, Madison, who introduced her to the world of competitive pageants. Having been crowned Miss Carbon County, and competing in Miss Utah herself, Madison showed Burrola the ropes and prepped her for the contests.
Initially there were speed bumps along the way, and Burrola literally got off on the wrong foot before competing in the Miss USU Eastern pageant. She sprained her ankle while playing softball two months before the contest, making it difficult for her to wear heels. Despite the setback, Burrola pushed through with the goal of bucking the traditional archetype that beauty pageants tend to follow. “…Me being an athlete definitely was the hardest thing, for me to fit into the status quo of the ‘pageant girl.’ You have to do make up, you have to do your hair. I had to get makeup lessons, because I had no idea how to do my make up,” she said.
With her resolve fully intact, Burrola carried over her competitive drive from sports and rose above her minor differences. She made it her mission to send a message for other female athletes that it is possible to compete in these types of competitions, and that their competitiveness could potentially give them an advantage over other contestants. With all of this in the back of her mind, Burrola reached her goal and earned the title of Miss USU Eastern. From there, she began to work towards meeting her platform commitment by contributing to early childhood education locally.
For the newly-crowned Miss USUE, educating the youth is the pinnacle of ensuring a successful roadmap for many young students. By reading to students and helping them become more fluent in that aspect of their schooling, Burrola believes it will expand their learning potential and inspire them to further their education down the road. “[My goal is to] make a statement that education is important, you can’t just rely on technology now. If you are an educated individual, when you are young, you will continue your education and make better choices,” she said. Burrola was also involved in humanitarian efforts, such as the shoe-drive she help organized to collect donated shoes to help aid Burkina Faso, a West African country. The locally driven cause brought in 1,000 pounds of shoes, which led to the construction of a water well to provide clean water to a Western African nation.
With the two pageants [Miss USU Eastern and Miss Utah] under her belt, Burrola cites her family as major inspiration for competing. She credited her aforementioned cousin Madison as her immediate inspiration for getting involved in the pageants, as well as her older brother for helping her gain the competitive drive in her. “He instilled in me that, if you work hard, you will achieve anything that you want to,” Burrola said.
Finally, she wanted to make it clear to the general public that there are two distinct differences between the Miss America and Miss USA pageants. The pageant that Burrola completed in, Miss America, is important to her, as it showcases the talent-level of the contestants more so than it does their looks alone. “This is a good opportunity to get yourself out there and put some dedication into something different. The young women within our community can make a change in the world. Not only are they making a change in the world, but they can go further in their education with this program,” Burrola said.
She wanted to reiterate the fact that the Miss America related pageants were not solely based upon beauty. “This is not a beauty pageant. The Miss USA pageant is a modeling contract…we focus on service and academic strive. We care about our serving our community, being a leader, being a role model to younger girls that want to strive in things like this. We do get a scholarship, we are not awarded with contracts with top modeling agencies because it is irrelevant to us,” Burrola said. For Alexandria, making a change in her community will be an ongoing project. One that she’ll continue to strive for, one broken bat, ankle, or stereotype at a time.