Like cheerleading, prep for the pageant was both mental and physical.<\/p>\n
Women are evaluated across four main preliminary scoring categories: personal interview, commercial appeal, swimwear, and evening gown, with each category making up 25 percent of the total score.<\/p>\n
Monta\u00f1o says hearing her name called was a surreal feeling. She experienced gratitude, excitement, and disbelief all at once.<\/p>\n
“What changed for me this year was my mindset,” Monta\u00f1o said.<\/p>\n
“This was the most fun I’ve ever had competing. I wasn’t focused on perfection \u2013 I was fully present, enjoying every moment on stage and genuinely appreciating the weekend with such an inspiring group of women. I think allowing myself to simply be authentic and enjoy the experience helped me show up as my best self.”<\/p>\n
As Miss Massachusetts USA she hopes to continue growing her program, “Fit Your Mold,” where she encourages young people to embrace what makes them unique through workshops and partnerships with nonprofits.<\/p>\n
It’s a deeply personal message for someone who was adopted and grew up navigating questions about her identity and belonging.<\/p>\n
Monta\u00f1o hopes to use her title as Miss Massachusetts USA to remind individuals that their differences can often be their greatest strengths.<\/p>\n
She takes her platform to Miami this week, where she will represent the Commonwealth on the national stage: competing for the Miss USA.<\/p>\n
“My goal isn’t just to compete well\u2014it’s to represent Massachusetts with authenticity, work as hard as I possibly can, connect with the incredible women from across the country,” Monta\u00f1o said.<\/p>\n
“I want to leave knowing I gave this experience everything I had while truly enjoying it.”<\/p>\n
This year’s Miss USA Final Pageant & Coronation marks the 75th anniversary of the pageant, making it all the more exciting for Monta\u00f1o. The competition will be broadcasted live on the Queen Beauty Network on Thursday, Aug. 27 at 8 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n
While the sash she wears will say Miss Massachusetts, she’ll also be representing the organization that helped her find her confidence.<\/p>\n
“Being a Patriots cheerleader taught me what it truly means to be an ambassador,” Monta\u00f1o said.<\/p>\n
“It showed me that representing an organization is about something so much bigger than yourself \u2013 it’s about serving your community and allowing others to see themselves reflected in you.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Like cheerleading, prep for the pageant was both mental and physical. Women are evaluated across four main preliminary…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1166884,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5311],"tags":[316762,7774,316763,7775,388,316761,49,978,659],"class_list":["post-1166883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-cheer","tag-hp-article","tag-hp-articles","tag-hp-featured","tag-lifestyle","tag-lifestyle-patriots-in-the-community","tag-united-states","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117151342762562089","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1166883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1166883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1166883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1166884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1166883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1166883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1166883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}