Meet Allison Thompson, the Rogers grad seeking to become Miss Rhode Island USA

NEWPORT — Allison Thompson had always wanted to enter a beauty pageant, but the 2014 Rogers High School graduate often found herself too bogged down in her schoolwork and didn’t have the time.

Now that she’s graduated from Wake Forest University and started her career in her hometown, she’s ready to give it a go. Thompson is one of the 50 competitors entered in the Miss Rhode Island USA contest, which will be decided over Memorial Day weekend.

Part of Thompson’s reasoning for joining the competition is to inspire others.

“Growing up in Newport, when I was in middle school and high school, I didn’t see a lot of young, African American women in the pageant world,” she said. “So I was like, ‘Let me go ahead and do it,’ and other girls coming after me will have the opportunity and see that.”

Thompson, 25, was born at Newport Hospital in 1996, the second daughter of Marie Morris and Vernal Thomspon. She has an older sister Deon — a person she jokingly calls her “stage mom.”

“They’re so excited,” Thompson said. “They’re my biggest supporters.”

Marie and Vernal arrived in the United States from Jamaica in the early 1990s. He works as a landscaper and property manager, while she is certified nursing assistant. “Both are super-hard workers,” Thompson said of her parents.

She added that part of her pageant platform is representing first-generation immigrants because “that’s such a huge part of my story and who I am.”

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Thompson is employed as a project manager at Shore-Creative, a graphic design agency based in Newport. She said she also volunteers in the community, using her “conversational Spanish skills” to connect with residents whose first language is not English.

“That’s important to me,” she said. “Although my parents came to this country and they knew English, being a new citizen of a place is hard to navigate. Having someone with you in a language you recognize is welcoming and gives them a sense of belonging.”

An honors student at Rogers High, Thompson graduated from Wake Forest in 2018 with a degree in communications, but is back in school as a part-time computer science student at the Community College of Rhode Island.

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Miss Rhode Island USA will be crowned at Veterans Memorial Auditorium on May 29 after a two-day competition. According to the eligibility requirements, contestants “must be of good health and moral character.”

Judging will be based on an interview, swimwear and an evening gown. There is no talent competition. The field then will be narrowed down to five finalists, who will appear on stage for a “Final Look” before a champion is crowned.

Supporters can back a hopeful with the online People’s Choice Award, the winner of which earns an automatic spot into the semifinal round. There is a $1 per vote cost.

The Rhode Island competition is part of The Miss Universe Organization that includes the Miss Universe, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA competitions. Among the previous Miss Rhode Island USA winners is Olivia Culpo, who then on to become Miss USA and then Miss Universe.

Thompson said she’s been overwhelmed by the support she’s received in her “journey” toward the Miss Rhode Island USA pageant, citing both Mend Yoga and Hogan Associates, and, of course, her family. She has established a Go Fund Me account to help cover the costs of wardrobe and other expenses for the competition.

“Initially I was hesitant (to enter),” Thompson said. “I was nervous about the way that I looked. I asked, ‘Am I capable? Can I do this?’ But when I looked at some of my achievements, and the things that I’ve done, and the community of Newport that I want to represent, it kind of propelled me into this sense of, ‘Yes, you are fully capable.’”

This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: Miss Rhode Island USA pageant contestant Allison Thompson from Newport