U of U Grad Student Wins Miss United Nations Pageant
KEARNS, Utah – Rosie Nguyen won the title of Miss United Nations USA 2013 last Saturday, August 10, 2013 at Kearns High School. She represented Vietnam along with 10 other contestants with origins from countries around the world. Proving that persistence pays off, she achieved this win on her second try in this pageant system.
She played a rendition of “Crystallize” on the piano for her talent performance and wore an elaborate version of the Vietnamese “Ao Dai” that won second place during the traditional costume competition. Rosie also won the “Best in Interview” award, scoring the highest on 31 percent of her final score. Her platform, “Don’t be insane, protect your brain!” aims at promoting awareness about helmet safety and was inspired by one of her best friends, Jose Miranda.
Jose was involved in a motorcycle accident on July 1, 2013 when he was unable to avoid a collision on I-15 and was ejected from his motorcycle. His helmet felt off before impact (http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=25836183). Currently, he is still in critical condition and a coma. “Jose is still fighting for life every single day. But I believe Jose is still alive for a reason. A couple days after his accident, there was another motorcycle accident on I-15, but that cyclist died on impact. I know that if Jose could open his eyes right now and talk, he wouldn’t want anyone else to go through what he has.”
Rosie has been working with Jose’s friends and family on a campaign to bring Michael Jordan to visit Jose. He has already received a personal letter from Jordan, but his team says that they won’t stop until Jordan physically visits. “Michael Jordan is Jose’s idol and we believe that if we can make this campaign come alive, it will give Jose the drive and motivation he needs to overcome this life-threatening challenge.”
Her plan during her year of reign is to encourage youths to pledge that they will always wear a helmet when they get on a bicycle, scooter, or motorcycle. She will also be raising awareness about how to find the right size helmet and securing it properly. Additionally, she will be fundraising for donations so that by this Christmas, she can donate 500 helmets to Toys for Tots in Jose’s name. “I want to make sure that when a bicycle, scooter, or even a pair of rollerblades is given out to a child from an underprivileged family, there will be a helmet to go with it as well.” Rosie and her family come from a background of overcoming adversity.
Both of her parents are survivors of the Vietnam War. Her father was a soldier for the Southern Vietnam forces and her mother was a boat refugee. She describes her parents’ experiences as “tragic, horrifying, and devastating. There is nothing like seeing your homeland being taken away from you and innocent people getting killed. My dad literally escaped death 7 times and that is why you have to be thankful for every living second that you have.” Both of her parents immigrated to the United States during the 1980s, where Rosie was born and raised. She expresses that the reason why she values education and community service so much is mainly because of what her parents taught her. “They came here with nothing but tattered clothes on their body. But throughout my life, they never let me go a day being hungry and they did everything in their power to make sure I had the resources to succeed academically. However, my parents also taught me that you must be humble for everything that you have. I remember that my dad would make me eat every single grain of rice in my bowl during family meals.”
At age 23, Rosie is halfway through her Master’s program in Journalism at the University of Utah. She aspires to be a television news reporter for Salt Lake City in the future. Currently, she co-teaches the TV Journalism class at the University of Utah. She has interned for ABC 4, KUTV, and is now at KSL news. Her passion in journalism stems from her enjoyment in writing, investigating, reporting, but most importantly, her desire to be the voice for underrepresented communities. For more information or to support Rosie’s platform, visit her Facebook pages at www.facebook.com/MissUnitedNationsUSA and www.facebook.com/JordanForJose
About the Miss United Nations USA pageant
Miss United Nations USA is an annual cultural pageant with four different segments of competition; private interview, talent, evening gown, and on-stage Q&A. The pageant began as a way to introduce an international component to scholarship pageantry and help women who want to pursue higher education along with serving their cultural communities.
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