Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
ALBUQUERQUE — A Clovis native is leaving today for what she hopes is the first step to being crowned Miss U.S. Latina on Sunday.
Monica Romero, 19, qualified for Sunday’s pageant in Atlanta after winning Miss New Mexico Latina on the final weekend of June.
The national pageant will be televised on Telemundo on Sunday, though the preliminary competition begins Friday. Competitors must be at least 18 by May 1 or not over 27 on Dec. 31, be able to prove Latin heritage, have never been pregnant and never been married, divorced or had a marriage annulled. State competitions require either state residency for six months, a semester of in-state college credit or six months of full time employment in the state.
Romero said she wasn’t born in Clovis, but attended Clovis schools at every level up to her 2017 graduation from Clovis High School.
The state pageant featured five competitors, each applying online and submitting a $500 entry fee
Romero took three of the four smaller awards — most photogenic, best physique and most outstanding.
Some would think Romero was a shoo-in at that point. Romero, a sophomore at the University of New Mexico, thought it was the judging panel’s way of encouraging her to compete next year.
“After I had won those awards,” Romero said, “I felt like I wasn’t going to win overall. I felt like they gave me that because I wasn’t going to win. It felt like too much to ask for that and to get those awards too.”
Overall, Romero feels confident about her chances in most areas. She knew she’d had a great interview and photoshoot at the state level, but knows she needs to shore up some skills in the elegance category she didn’t claim.
“My biggest downfall in the state competition was definitely my walk,” Romero said, “so I wanted to put most of my efforts into that.”
The state pageant organization covered Romero’s $2,500 application fee for the national pageant.
The national competition includes women from 23 different states and Puerto Rico. All competitors are competing for a people’s choice award, which at missuslatina.com. Votes require donations, with an undisclosed amount going to the competitor’s chosen charity. The contestant who raises the most funds receives an automatic semifinal bid.
Romero is majoring in biology with a minor in chemistry at UNM. She wants to be a dentist, but countered that hasn’t taken any classes in that field yet and an internship with Sandia National Labs has her interested in inorganic chemistry as a career.
