August 12 — College of General Studies sophomore Jacqueline Bruno was the third-runner up last night in the Miss Teen USA 2003 pageant.
Bruno, who holds the title of Miss Massachusetts Teen USA, made it to the final round and finished the competition in fourth place, behind second runner-up Miss Michigan Teen USA Alicia Jaros, first runner-up Miss Tenessee Teen USA Alicia Selby and the winner, Miss Oregon Teen USA Tami Nichole Farrell.
The competition, broadcast nationally on NBC, included young women from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, with only 15, including Bruno, remaining after the first cut. In the first portion, judges used their impressions of the contestants from earlier in the week.
In the round of 15, the judges ranked the young women on their evening wear and previous impressions to reduce the field to 10 competitors. In the following round, the ladies donned swimsuits to impress the judges, who subsequently narrowed the field down to the five finalists.
In the final round, hosts Mario Lopez and Brooke Burns spoke with the finalists to allow the judges to get to know them a little better. Bruno discussed her baton twirling, telling Lopez and Burns she could twirl one baton, two batons and even fire batons.
“Don’t worry,” Bruno assured the audience, “I’ve never lit myself on fire – yet.”
Bruno, who has written for the New Bedford Standard Times, said if she could take over anyone’s job, it would have to be that of Today show host Katie Couric.
“I’ve always wanted to be a broadcast journalist and sitting next to Matt Lauer every day would definitely be a plus,” Bruno said.
The remaining contestants then drew questions from the other finalists and answered them. Bruno’s question asked what qualities she looked for in a best friend and came from Miss Teen New Jersey Jacklyn Pezzotta, who placed fifth. The 18-year-old BU student said she looked for “sincerity, honesty and personality.”
“I know that all my best friends have these qualities,” Bruno said at the competition. “You have to go out and have fun with your friends, and that’s what they’re there for, so definitely personality.”
Bruno told The Daily Free Press in December that the local Miss Teen Massachusetts pageant was only her fourth, with two of the previous ones being local pageants she needed to win to move to the state level. Bruno bested 100 other girls from Massachusetts during the two-day statewide pageant.
In December, Bruno said she would take a year off from school if she won, but after placing fourth, she’ll be able to return to BU in the fall. The winner has many speaking engagements and public appearances.
Bruno will still have speaking engagements while wearing her crown as Miss Teen Massachusetts, but many of them will be within the state and allow her to attend school at the same time.
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
