Just in time for the Bronx Columbus Day Parade, the final piece has fallen into place.
Tony Signorile and the parade committee revealed just days before the annual dinner dance that their selection for Miss Columbus was Kristen Marie Carew, a senior at Cardinal Spellman High School.
“I’m surprised they chose me,” Carew, of Glennon Place,in Throggs Neck, admitted humbly.
They certainly did have applications — a record-high 24 girls from the area applied to be Miss Columbus, which comes with a fair chunk of scholarship money towards college. The title also offers a car ride at the front of the parade and a mandatory speech at the dinner dance.
In Carew’s speech at the parade gala on Friday, October 1, at Mastro’s Catering, she thanked the foundation and spoke about her family. Dressed in a long, sparkling pink gown, she spoke of her heritage, as well.
But it was in her application essay that Carew’s devotion to her Italian-American roots was clearest.
“Throughout my life it has become very clear to me that Italians take family life very seriously,” she wrote. “I have learned that family should always come first. In my family, time together is greatly cherished. A day does not go by where we do not sit down to dinner as a whole family and share in each other’s lives. Our dinner table is usually filled with laughter and enjoyable conversation.”
At school, Carew likes science, and focuses on biology. She works hard; she was already inducted into National Honors Society last April, as a junior.
“I was pretty nervous,” she admitted about her interview process. She didn’t know of any other girls that applied from her school, but some of her close friends right on the same block did.
As a senior, Carew is now beginning to consider colleges. In addition to a younger sister in the 5th grade, she has an older brother at SUNY Maritime and an older sister, only two years above her, at Adelphi.
The prospect of being there with her sister for a couple of years, and also being right around the corner from the family she loves, is making Adelphi a front-runner on Carew’s list.
Whatever school she chooses, she’ll now have a bit of financial help along the way.
Along with Carew, grand marshal Dom Castore, honorary marshal Charles Sperrazza, and citizen’s award recipient Ben Buccieri are all primed and ready to march.
The parade will get moving just before noon on Sunday, October 10. Tony Signorile reminds residents that cars must be removed from Morris Park Avenue before 9:30 a.m. on parade day.
Kristen said she is practicing her wave.
