Pamela J. Migalska moved with her family from Poland when she was 4-years-old.
Pamela J. Migalska of Randolph is crowned Miss Polonia Massachusetts 2011, by last year's winner Elizabeth C. Dobrska of Holyoke during the pageant Sunday at Pilsudski Park in Holyoke.
HOLYOKE – A University of Massachusetts student won the title of Miss Polonia Massachusetts Sunday and a free trip to her home country of Poland.
Pamela J. Migalska, 19, of Randolph, a communications and marketing major at UMass-Amherst, was crowned in front of about 300 people at Pilsudski Park.
This is the eighth year the city has hosted the pageant for Massachusetts. The winner will now compete in the Miss Polonia America Pageant later in the year, said Irena H. Gadecki, of Chicopee, the event organizer.
The event attracted four contestants, which is a smaller number than usual. A fifth candidate was caught in traffic jams in eastern Massachusetts and did not make the event, and others declined to enter because they were starting college, Gadecki said.
Candidates had to be between 17 and 25 years old and of Polish descent, she said.
The other three candidates were Jessica Cialek, of Northampton; Elizabeth Konarski, of Middleton; and Cassandra Bielicki, of Boston. All four received cash prizes and other awards, she said.
“I was born in Poland and we all speak Polish at home and we follow all the traditions,” Migalska said.
Even before the pageant, Migalska, a college junior, said she was hoping to study abroad in Poland next semester.
Migalska said she moved to the United States with her parents when she was 4 years old. She has visited her homeland several times but hasn’t been there in four years.
“I’m excited. With the culture and traditions it is home for me. I’m Polish American and it is like a missing part of me,” she said.
During her stay Migalska said she is hoping to improve her Polish language skills. While she is fluent, she said she would like to eliminate her American accent.
Being able to go to Poland was just one benefit of the event. Migalska said she enjoyed meeting other women who share the same heritage.
“I had fun and I met great people,” she said.