Fil-Am beauty in Miss America tilt

MANILA, Philippines - Fil-American Kristina Janolo, Miss Florida-America, is competing in the 2012 Miss America Pageant to be held at the Theater for the Performing Arts, Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Jan. 14. All the 50 states, plus the District of Columbia, Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, are competing.

Kristina is a Marketing senior at the University of Central Florida; she’s a magna cum laude graduate of the Bishop Moore Catholic High School in Orlando. An accomplished singer, she has performed the lead roles of Tuptim in The King and I and Gertrude in Seussical, the Musical, and has taken part at XL 106.7’s Red, Hot and Boom Concert.

She has also developed a program called C.A.R.E. (Commitment to Always Remember the Elderly) which focuses on creating awareness about the needs of the elderly.

Kristina hopes to become the second Asian-American to wear the prestigious Miss America crown. Angela Perez Baraquio, a Fil-Am representing Hawaii, was crowned the first Asian-American Miss America in 2001.