Greensboro teen wins three pageants
A Greensboro teen-ager won the triple crown of Greene County pageants this summer. It all started in June when Rachel Marie Burack was named Miss Riverfest of the 2002 Rices Landing Riverfest. It continued in July when she won the title of Miss Rain Day 2002 at the annual Rain Day festival in Waynesburg. It went full circle last week when she gained the sash and crown of 2002 Pennsylvania Coal Queen.
“I was amazed at the fact that it happened even once to me, and then it was three times. I’m still really shocked because it happened,” she said.
On Saturday, Burack rode in the King Coal Parade that highlighted the last day of the 49th Pennsylvania Bituminous Coal Show.
She talked afterward about her eventful summer.
The daughter of Charles and Cyndee Burack of Greensboro and the granddaughter of Charles and Dwanda Burack of Waynesburg and Virginia Helmick of Smithfield, she is a senior this school year at Mapletown Junior/Senior High School.
“She said at the beginning of the summer, ‘I just want a crown,'” Mrs. Burack said.
Burack may have had some good karma going for her.
She wore the same gown in the three contests, a black beaded full-length dress that she originally wore to her ninth-grade prom. She performed the same talent, a jazz/acrobatic routine to the music “Queen Bee.” She also ate the same breakfast of blueberry pancakes each time.
“We all wore the same clothes, too,” her mother said. “My mother wasn’t allowed to come to any of the competitions because she wasn’t at the first one.”
A group of family and friends, even Mrs. Burack’s mother, turned out Saturday for the King Coal Parade. They gathered at a spot along Market Street, staying through the rain.
Burack got soaked, and her lucky gown shrunk a little when the umbrella she carried as she road atop a float with her court turned inside out.
Among her duties as Coal Queen, Burack attended the Pennsylvania State Mine Rescue Contest last Thursday at Carmichaels football field, where she shook hands and took pictures with Randy Fogle, Tom Foy and John Unger, three of the nine miners rescued in July from the Quecreek Mine in Somerset County. She had her photograph taken with them and joined a dinner later that night with the men and others at Hartley Inn in Carmichaels.
Joe Sbaffoni, bituminous mine safety division chief with the state Department of Environmental Protection’s Bureau of Deep Mine Safety, crowned Burack as the Coal Queen. She said she enjoyed talking with him.
Of the coal industry, Burack said she could make no comments this early in her reign, at least until after she visits a coal mine. She has some family history connected to the industry. A grandfather and two great-grandfathers were coal miners.
There are more parades and appearances on tap for Burack as she carries the Coal Queen, Miss Riverfest and Miss Rain Day titles.
She said she has enjoyed the contests and is interested in pursuing others.
“I’ve done Riverfest and Rain Day for a couple of years. My main reason is that I dance a lot,” she said.
She said 2002 Miss Pennsylvania Autumn Marisa of Waynesburg and Kristin Szarell, a Miss Pennsylvania runner-up from Waynesburg, have influenced her.
Burack has some advice for other young women.
“Don’t let anybody tell you you can’t do it, because I had a lot of people tell me I didn’t have a chance,” she said.
Burack has won $4,500 this year in scholarships, and the total is about $6,000 when other contest scholarships are added. She has plans after high school to pursue a degree in journalism and broadcast communications at California University of Pennsylvania.
Mrs. Burack said she is grateful to the pageants for the scholarships and also to the many sponsors that supported her daughter.
“We’d like to thank the people responsible,” Mrs. Burack said.
Beyond the scholarships, Mrs. Burack said the pageants teach young women leadership skills and give them an opportunity to showcase their talent.
Burack said she has gained self-confidence through these experiences.
“At the beginning, I used to be so scared before interviews. Now, it’s nothing at all,” she said.
She competed three consecutive years in the Rain Day contest, three years ago winning first runner-up and two years ago winning second runner-up, top talent and the John O’Hara Award.
At last year’s Riverfest, she was first runner-up and won talent and photogenic honors.
In high school, she is a varsity cheerleader and member of Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD), Ski Club, the yearbook staff, homecoming court, drama club and National Honor Society. Also, she is a volunteer for Red Cross blood drives and Read Across America. A dance student for 14 years, she studies at the Ginny McClelland Dance Studio in Waynesburg.