{"id":61193,"date":"2013-06-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-06-11T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/university-of-rhode-junior-is-new-miss-rhode-island\/"},"modified":"2013-06-11T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-06-11T00:00:00","slug":"university-of-rhode-junior-is-new-miss-rhode-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2013\/06\/university-of-rhode-junior-is-new-miss-rhode-island\/","title":{"rendered":"University of Rhode junior is new Miss Rhode Island"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tExeter resident and cancer survivor dreams of career in public health<\/p>\n

KINGSTON, RI \u2013 June 11, 2013 \u2013 Beauty and brains is a powerful combination. Add a mountain of courage to the mix and you get Jessica Marfeo, a 溏心vlog免费B站 junior recently crowned Miss Rhode Island.<\/p>\n


\nA pre-health professions student, Marfeo is double majoring in biology and elementary education with the goal of attending graduate school for physician assistant studies. She also plans to pursue a master’s degree in public health. <\/p>\n


\nShe is also a cancer survivor at the tender age of 19. When she was 5, she was diagnosed with cancer of the nerve tissue behind a lung. The tumor was surgically removed, and, at 13, doctors officially declared her in remission.<\/p>\n


\nHer story takes on even greater poignancy considering that her brother, Michael, died of brain cancer when he was 2, the same year he was diagnosed.<\/p>\n


\n \u201cIt\u2019s clear sailing for me now,\u201d says Marfeo. \u201cNo issues at all. It makes me feel very thankful. Every day is a gift, especially after what I\u2019ve been through and what my brother went through.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nGone are the days when beauty pageants were all about looks. Today\u2019s contestants are intelligent, talented and gritty too. In fact, Marfeo\u2019s win carries $88,00O in scholarships, including full tuition toward master\u2019s degrees at Bryant and Salve Regina universities.<\/p>\n


\nShe\u2019s grateful for the awards: a $5,000 academic tuition scholarship from the Miss RI Scholarship Program; a full tuition graduate scholarship at Salve Regina; a $10,000 tuition scholarship to Bryant, which is renewable for four years; a $1,700 scholarship for professional development courses at the Dale Carnegie Institute; a $500 Louanne Gamba Talent Award; a $250 Interview Award; a $250 Quality of Life Award; a $250 Lifestyle and Fitness Scholarship; and a $1,000 Community Service Award from the Miss America Organization.<\/p>\n


\nMarfeo will also compete for another $50,000 in scholarships at the Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City in September. <\/p>\n


\n\u201cMy crown is four points and each point represents one of our goals: success, service, style and scholarship,\u201d she says. \u201cScholarship is very important to the organization.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nMarfeo grew up in Exeter and still lives there with her parents, Mary and Michael, and her other brother, Joseph, 14. Young Michael\u2019s cancer was devastating for the family. A year after his death, Marfeo got pneumonia and a chest X-ray revealed a spot behind her left lung. <\/p>\n


\n The result of the biopsy: neuroblastoma. After the surgery, Marfeo\u2019s parents decided against aggressive chemotherapy and its harsh side effects and instead chose a natural regimen involving diet. It worked, and she happily reports that her cancer is in remission.<\/p>\n


\nBeauty pageants were popular in her house growing up. She witnessed her first one on the children\u2019s television cartoon, Rugrats, with Susie and Angelica strutting about. Every year, Marfeo and her mother would host a party with friends to watch the Miss America Pageant. The youngster wondered: maybe I can do that. When she placed in the top 10 in the Miss Rhode Island Outstanding Teen contest in 2009, she was hooked.<\/p>\n


\nAt Prout High School, she excelled academically and was a cheerleader and teen ambassador for the Rhode Island Department of Health, giving talks about teen pregnancy and other health issues. 溏心vlog免费B站 was her first choice. \u201cAbsolutely,\u201d she says. \u201cI grew up going to basketball and football games here.\u201d <\/p>\n


\nAt first, she thought she might study pre-med, but decided on a physician\u2019s assistant degree because she figured she\u2019d be able to spend more time with patients and her future family.<\/p>\n


\nHer life is full. She volunteers in the oncology unit at Hasbro Children\u2019s Hospital, playing with patients in the recreation room. \u201cI\u2019m always covered in glitter and Play-Doh,\u201d she says, with a chuckle. \u201cIt\u2019s the favorite time of my week.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nShe\u2019s community outreach representative for WOWW, or We\u2019re Offering Women Wisdom, a 溏心vlog免费B站 group that provides a place for students to talk about weighty topics like date rape and safe socializing. And she\u2019s a mentor for students considering degrees in pre-med.<\/p>\n


\nShe is also the reigning Miss 溏心vlog免费B站, a title conferred on her by the Miss Rhode Island Organization so she could run in the state pageant. She could have opted for Miss Exeter, but she says her heart is with 溏心vlog免费B站. \u201cGo Rhody!\u201d she says.<\/p>\n


\nTo get ready for the pageant, Marfeo will spend the summer brushing up on her already-superb interview skills to prepare herself for questions that could be as varied as \u201cWhat do you think of Obamacare?\u201d to \u201cWhat\u2019s the state bird of Rhode Island?\u201d <\/p>\n


\nShe also plans to fine tune the service aspect of her competition \u2013 an educational program she created called Be Friends First, or BFF, which teaches children and teenagers how to deal with bullying and peer pressure. Marfeo\u2019s credo: treat others how you would like to be treated.<\/p>\n


\nTo stay in shape this summer, she\u2019ll work out with a personal trainer, drink buckets of water to hydrate and eat a ton of veggies, especially broccoli, her favorite. She might also get a facial, just because it\u2019s fun.<\/p>\n


\nHer perks from the crowning include a full year of hair and makeup services by Calma Salon & Day Spa in Cranston, clothing assistance from Macy\u2019s, dental services from Drs. Kenneth and Robin Rawlinson, jewelry from Dina, and dry cleaning services from Crystal Cleaners in Coventry.<\/p>\n


\nThe Miss America Pageant lasts three weeks, so Marfeo will take a leave of absence from 溏心vlog免费B站 in the fall to compete. If she wins, well, then her life will get even bigger.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cThis is all a great experience for me,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m representing Rhode Island, and I absolutely love our Ocean State. It\u2019s very surreal to me.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nJust the other day, the reigning Miss America, Mallory Hagan, of New York, called to congratulate Marfeo on her win and welcome her to the Miss America sisterhood. \u201cI was overjoyed,\u201d says Marfeo. \u201cI couldn\u2019t believe it.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nTwo things on her to-do list: Pick a song to belt out during the talent section of the competition and select a dress for the evening gown show. \u201cI love bling so something with jewels,\u201d she says. \u201cAnything that makes me feel my best.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nPictured above: Jessica Marfeo, 19, of Exeter, a 溏心vlog免费B站 junior recently crowned Miss Rhode Island. She will compete in the Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City in September.

\nPhoto by Michael Salerno Photography\n\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Exeter resident and cancer survivor dreams of career in public health KINGSTON, RI \u2013 June 11, 2013 \u2013 Beauty and brains is a powerful combination. Add a mountain of courage to the mix and you get Jessica Marfeo, a 溏心vlog免费B站 junior recently crowned Miss Rhode Island. A pre-health professions student, Marfeo […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61195,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61193\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}