BU Students Compete for Miss Massachusetts Title

Maggie Markham (CFA’19) (left) and Joclyne Nunes (MET’17) are among the 24 contestants vying for the Miss Massachusetts crown this weekend. Photos courtesy of Markham and Nunes

This weekend, two Boston University students are competing in the 77th annual Miss Massachusetts Scholarship Pageant. The pageant winner will go on to represent the Bay State at the national Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City, N.J., in September and have a chance of earning $50,000 in scholarship money.

Joclyne Nunes (MET’17) and Maggie Markham (CFA’19) are among the 24 contestants vying for this year’s state crown. Nunes, the reigning Miss Central Massachusetts, and Markham, the current Miss Boston, won their regional levels to qualify for the Miss Massachusetts competition.

The two-day pageant, which begins tonight in Worcester, comprises a 10-minute interview section, evening wear and swimsuit modeling, and a talent portion.

Nunes, who had previously been named Miss Middlesex County, Miss Bristol County, and Miss New Bedford, originally became interested in the pageant circuit because of the opportunity to win scholarship money, but says it wasn’t long before she liked it for other reasons. “The pageant is really special for me,” she says. “I was going to be done last year because I met my goal of becoming Miss New Bedford—that’s where I’m from—but you make such good friendships, have a fun time volunteering, and along with the scholarship aspect, competing again was appealing to me. This is my last year because I will age out, and of course Miss Massachusetts would be a great opportunity.”

A graduate student studying arts administration, Nunes graduated from Dean College in 2014 with a degree in dance and has since worked as a dance teacher. For her platform, she chose to focus on the power of the performing arts, something she says she learned about firsthand growing up in a single parent household. “I started dancing at the age of six. My dad wasn’t involved, and my mom put me in dance, and it became a coping method,” she says. “I danced through high school and college, and when I had to choose a platform, dance was the first thing that came to mind. I also took violin lessons and chorus so I wanted to embody all the performing arts and expose people to the fact that they are life-changing.”

For the talent portion of the competition, Nunes will perform a jazz dance to the song “Black and Gold,” from the 2009 remake of the movie Fame.

This is the first state pageant for fellow Terrier Markham, who speaks with a slight Southern twang from being raised in Georgia. The pageant requires that contestants live in the state for six months before they can compete: because Markham attends BU, she was eligible. Her family is originally from the Boston area, and growing up she spent summers here and frequently attended Red Sox games.

“I was very cynical about pageants before I became involved,” Markham says, “but I realized it was an excellent vehicle for self-growth. I was reading a book by former Miss America Kate Shindle, Being Miss America: Behind the Rhinestone Curtain, and she said that Miss America is a ‘socially responsible activist.’ That’s something I aspire to—I would like to do a lot of good in the world and I think winning is a way to achieve that.”

Markham chose something she feels strongly about for her competition platform—creating a culture of compassion surrounding sexual abuse. A Planned Parenthood volunteer, she says it’s important to her to encourage conversation and erase the stigma around sexual abuse. “One in six women is sexually abused, and that number goes up to one in four on college campuses,” she notes. “I know far too many family members and friends who have been abused. I felt drawn to the issue for that reason. It’s such a difficult conversation, and I feel able to lead the conversation and speak for those who choose not to.”

For the pageant’s talent portion, School of Theatre student Markham will perform a monologue from the comedy Waiting for Guffman.

The winner of the Miss Massachusetts competition will next head to Washington, D.C., for the Miss America Orientation.

The Miss Massachusetts 2016 pageant is tonight, Friday, July 1, and tomorrow, Saturday, July 2, at the Hanover Theatre, in Worcester, Mass. Find more information here. Tickets for the preliminary show tonight and the final competition tomorrow can be purchased online here or by calling the box office at 877-571-7469.