One of the poses was a spokesmodel although Alexa has no aspirations towards this as a career.
Springfield resident Alexandra Charecky has a few things to focus on while going into her senior year at West Springfield, starting with winning the National American Miss competition in Reston, and another pageant coming this November in Florida. She’s taking the Auto Train but will still look forward to a feast over Thanksgiving.
“They do a Thanksgiving banquet,” Alexa said.
Alexandra Charecky
Other concerns this year include applying for college, playing the bass guitar, putting in time at the Warrior Canine Connection with dogs and her upcoming service project putting on a “Beacon Buddy Bash.” This is part of the National American Miss participation, where she’s been involved for the past five years.
“Community service is highly emphasized,” she said.
At school, Charecky participates in varsity track and field. At the beginning of spring track, Alexa blew her knee out at practice and had surgery at the end of April, and everyone was not even sure she would be able to walk normally, let alone in heels in time for the pageant.
"But, thanks to an amazing surgeon, physical therapists, and hard work and determination, she was able to walk gracefully and capture the crown," said her mother Katherine Charecky. Alexa looked to Olympic track star Anna Hall for inspiration. Hall also had a knee injury earlier this year and still medaled at the Olympics in the Heptathlon.
National American Miss competition
The pageants have all kinds of outfits the contestants wear and Cherecky posed as a television reporter but she doesn’t have aspirations in that area. Her interests include biology, German, and mental health. At West Springfield, she’s part of the Mental Health Student Alliance and has a family member struggling with mental health issues.
During one pageant, she had to give a short speech during her personal introduction and the thirty seconds she had seemed like a lot longer.
“First time was a little nerve wracking,” she said.
Her talent section involved the bass guitar and her main musical attraction is “metal,” music which is a little hard core for someone who is also walking down the pageant runway.
“For this pageant, I did a groove with bass,” she said. Her favorite group is a French band called “Gojira.”
Skills like clear communication, carrying yourself with poise, and speaking with confidence about herself and her passions are things that every young woman should have the chance to practice. National American Miss sets the stage to learn those skills they said.
Past winners have gone on to bigger things in life, attributing some of that courage to the National American Miss pageant. Camille Shrier was a winner in 2012 and went on to win the Miss America pageant in 2020. Past winner Serene Singh went on to be a Rhodes Scholar; Shirene Pimentel is now a Broadway star; and MacKenzie Maynard won in 2007 and went on to be a broadcast journalist at NBC and ABC affiliates across the country.
The door is open to many options for Alexa so starting with the National American Miss program exposes her to other things that she may not have seen in Springfield.
“It really is a lot more than just a pageant,” she said.