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Angela Perez Baraquio
Miss America 2001
April 27, 2001 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT
 Listen to the event
Before the United States got an education president,
it got another national figure who is championing
education: Angela Perez Baraquio, Miss America 2001.
Crowned in October 2000, the 24-year-old native of
Honolulu, Hawaii chose as her platform “Character in
the Classroom: Teaching Values, Valuing Teachers.”
“Children are dying every day from drug overdoses,
violence and suicides because they have fewer and
fewer decent role models to influence them,” she says.
“Schools can help by paying greater attention to
establishing the caring environment that our children
need.” But she warns that this will not happen unless
the United States places a higher value on its
teachers. “If America’s teachers are to be responsible
for teaching our children to become honorable people,
then America’s teachers need to be treated like
honorable people,” she says. They should not be forced
to reach into their own pockets to pay for school
supplies, or even to leave the profession because the
salaries offered are too low.
She should know: before becoming Miss America,
Baraquio taught physical education to kindergarten to
third graders, and was a 5th-8th grade coach and
athletic director in Hawaii. Her goal when her tenure
as Miss America is over is to complete a Master’s
degree in education administration. In the meantime,
crisscrossing the country with her message about
character education, she has already spoken to
conferences, students and high-level politicians –
including the governors of Arkansas and Louisiana --
in about a dozen states.
A graduate of the University of Hawaii-Manoa with a
degree in Elementary Education, Baraquio was an honor
student and is a recipient of several student teaching
awards and scholarships. She has worked as a host and
interviewer for a local television program in
Honolulu, played keyboards and sung for an all-girl
rock group called High Tide, and served as choir
director at Waikiki Catholic Church.
Related Links:
The Miss America Organization
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