Miss RI heads to Atlantic City for competition

August 28, 2017 12:55 pm

By: Melissa Randall

E-mail: mrandall@abc6.com

Twitter: @MRandallABC6

EAST GREENWICH, R.I. (WLNE) — Miss Rhode Island 2017 got a jump start on her journey to Atlantic City Monday.

With the help of her biggest supporters, Nicolette Peloquin packed up the SUV with everything she will need for the ‘Miss America’ competition.

“It feels like I was just crowned yesterday and this is just a child hood dream come true,” she said.

A recent graduate of Salve Regina University, Peloquin will represent the Ocean State in the competition which is now less than two weeks away. Her platform is extremely personal. After losing a loved one to cancer, and a scare herself, Nicolette joined ‘Be the Match: The national bone marrow registry.’

“I wasn’t even on the bone marrow registry a year and I was already matched with a complete stranger. So on August 9th of 2016 I went to the RI Blood Center and I donated over 360 million stem cells to save a complete strangers life in the United Kingdom,” she explained.

The East Greenwich woman has enjoyed advocating for the cause as Miss RI and says she is ready to bring it into the national spotlight.

Before heading out Nicolette shared with ABC6 News what she’s most looking forward to.

“Having that moment where you are standing on the stage and Chris Harrison says ‘Rhode Island!’ I love [him] and I think that will be my ‘it’ moment where it finally starts to sink in that I’m competing on that ‘Miss America’ stage.”

Miss America airs on ABC. You can watch it LIVE September 10th beginning at 9 pm EST.