Her journey to the crown

When Allyn Rose was a punk-rocking, high school tomboy, she never imagined she would one day have a future in pageantry.

But inspired to honor the memory of one of her biggest supporters — her mom — the university alumna entered a fundraising pageant on a whim and set herself on an unexpected path toward competing on the national stage in this year's Miss USA contest as Miss Maryland.

"I feel like when you lose someone close to you, you start to realize life is very fleeting, and all the time you've been given is a gift," Rose said. "I like to make use of every moment my mom doesn't have."

She won the inaugural Miss Sinergy pageant — a competition that raised money for the Libby Ross Foundation, a support program for women with breast cancer. Allyn's mother, Judith Rose, died of the disease when Rose was 16 years old.

After nearly a year of working with the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Relay for Life, St. Jude's Children's Hospital and other organizations through Sinergy, Rose gave up her crown; she was now eligible to compete in pageants again.

Two weeks later, Rose won the Miss Maryland pageant in October, and on June 20, she came in eighth place in Miss USA. In only her third pageant experience, this position placed her higher than any other Maryland native since 1973.

"We're not a very competitive state," Rose said, laughing. "We have a sordid pageant history."

She did not quite live up to the "scandal" of Marylander Mary Leona Gage, who was stripped of her 1957 Miss USA title when the organization discovered she was a wife and mother. However, a panel of interviewers told Rose she was the only contestant to say she would pose for nude fashion photographs.

"We come into this world naked, we leave this world naked and it's nothing to be ashamed of. You know, power to it," said Rose, adding she believes all women should feel confident and comfortable in their own skin.

Some Miss USA attendees were quick to write Rose off, yet friends said she turned many stereotypical opinions around once skeptics heard her interview answers.

When Rose stepped forward to answer the judges' questions, senior English major Josie Callahan — who attended the pageant to support her friend --said she remembered hearing snickering in the audience.

"I heard this lady behind me say, ‘Oh here we go, this stereotypical dumb blonde, this should be good,'" Callahan said. "And when she answered the question, she was just a class act and very well spoken."

As a latecomer to pageants, Rose — who graduated from this university last year with a degree in government and politics — said school has always been first priority.

"She's academically brilliant; I don't think that's an overstatement," said her father, Dave Rose. "She's very strategic, and she studies the environment she's going to participate in with rigor."

She blames her only C in college --thanks to failing an economics final --on the Miss USA pageant, which she watched during study breaks. And when she competed in Miss Sinergy, Rose was juggling participation in the Delta Gamma sorority, multiple fraternities and a Student Government Association council.

But Rose said everyone did always believe she had it in her; as a child, she aspired to be a Hollywood actress but faced taunting from naysayers in her small hometown of Newburg, Md., telling her she was not pretty enough.

"But every day, my mom would pick me up from school and say to me, ‘What's it like being the most beautiful girl in the world,'" Rose said. "Having someone on Team Allyn meant a lot."

That is why participating in the pageants felt right, Rose said. While Rose's future may not hold another contest, she said she plans to continue modeling for designer Sherri Hill and will apply to law school.

"I think my story's helped people see you can pick yourself up by your bootstraps," she said. "I lost my mom in the most crucial time in my development as a woman, and I didn't think I could do these glamorous things."

lurye at umdbk dot com