Miss America 2011: Harvard Grad and Miss Massachusetts

The women of ABC’s The Bachelor may be competing for a man’s heart, but the only thing Loren Galler-Rabinowitz wants to win is this year’s Miss America crown! But don’t think that the Miss Massachusetts contestant is just another pretty face. The 2010 graduate from Harvard University has a degree in English and just finished a 10-year figure skating career as a U.S. Champion ice dancer. In addition to her dreams of becoming a published poet, the Brookline, Mass. native received an $8,000 scholarship from the Miss America Organization as Miss Massachusetts, which she will put towards pursuing a medical degree. If all this wasn’t enough, the 24-year-old won an additional $250 for winning the talent portion of the competition (nope, not for ice dancing – she’s a classically-trained pianist). And this Saturday on ABC, Galler-Rabinowitz will show the country just why she deserves to win not only the Miss America title, but the $50,000 academic scholarship that goes along with it.

One reason is her devotion to her philanthropic cause, fighting childhood hunger. In fact, Galler-Rabinowitz, who spent a lot of her childhood in Barbados where her mother runs the center for malnourished children, was awarded the Harvard’s English department’s Le Baron Briggs Traveling Prize for her humanitarian work. Her goal is to work in the area of pediatrics.

How does this non-stop woman find time to accomplish all this – and manage a happy and healthy relationship with her boyfriend of three years? Cupid was lucky enough to speak with her and find out:

After all that you have accomplished, what encouraged you to participate in the Miss America Competition now?

I knew that I wanted to take a year off between undergrad and medical school and I wanted to use that time to give a year of service. I figured that this was the last opportunity in my life where I don’t have financial obligations to anyone other than myself. I wanted to do something that would encourage people to help others and Miss America gives me the platform to do that.

In what ways has your title of Miss Massachusetts already started to impact people?

One advantage of being Miss Massachusetts is that I get to go to schools and give talks. Sometimes people think kids don’t listen, but they do. I’ve received hundreds of email responses. Whether it’s someone saying, “Because of you I started a UNICEF chapter at my school,” or, “This weekend I am going to be nicer to my little sister.”

Miss America is a beauty contest, no doubt about that. There is an aesthetic element to it, but it’s not girl who is the most beautiful girl on the outside who wins – it’s the one who is most beautiful on the inside. As Miss Massachusetts, I’ve put in up to something like 70 hours a week of public service. I’m not paid to do this. Being Miss America is even more intensive, but I think that I have the heart to do this job.

What do you say to inspire people?