Berlin High Graduate Wins Local Miss America Pageant; Hosts a Fundraiser Variety Show Saturday, May 19 in Bristol

The current Miss Nutmeg, Ashley Hamel of Berlin, will be hosting a variety show fundraiser on Saturday, May 19th, entitled "An Evening of Music and Laughter". The show will be at The Ingraham House on 156 Summer Street in Bristol and will run from 7 to 10 p.m. Tickets are a suggested donation of $15 to $20, and refreshments will be provided. A portion of the proceeds will benefit Literacy Volunteers of Central Connecticut, where Hamel has been a volunteer English tutor for the past year and a half, and Children's Miracle Network Hospitals, the national charity of Miss America, which benefits Connecticut Children's Medical Center and the Miss Connecticut scholarships.

Featured musicians include Jesse Newman of Wallingford, Bella and le Strangers of Meriden, Debby Pongoh of West Hartford, and Hamel herself, a Berlin resident. Featured comedians, UConn's The Agents of Improv, will perform improvisational comedy. Fellow local Miss Connecticut titleholders will also perform their talents.

Ashley Hamel won the title of Miss Nutmeg on March 18th after being recruited by a former pageant winner at her workplace in Hartford. 11 days after this chance meeting, she found herself in the final local pageant leading up to Miss Connecticut. "When they called my name for Miss Nutmeg, I just started laughing in amazement," she said. "It was so surreal to me."

Next up for Hamel is the Miss Connecticut pageant June 28-30 at the Garde Arts Center in New London. There will be 24 contestants, and only one of them will represent Connecticut in the Miss America pageant in Las Vegas in January. "I am so excited to be trying something new and challenging," she said about her experiences with the organization.

ABOUT MISS CONNECTICUT
The Miss Connecticut Scholarship Program is an official preliminary of the Miss America Organization, which is the world's largest provider of scholarship money to young women, with over $45 million awarded in 2011. Over 12,000 women participate in the local and state pageants every year. The central mission of Miss Connecticut is to uphold the four points of the crown: scholarship, service, style, and success. For more information, visit www.missctamerica.org.