By Kye Poronsky

Crystal Cohen, 21, a University alumna, will represent Levittown in the Miss Long Island Pageant. Cohen stumbled across an advertisement for the pageant online. “It all happened very fast,” she explained. She applied for the contest, did a phone interview and was offered a spot in the competition.

“For some women they make a lifestyle out of this,” Cohen said. “I’m not the type of girl who’s made a lifestyle out of it.” She expressed she is just going to have fun, be her spunky, charismatic self and smile as much as possible.

Cohen is competing with the help of Dazzle D. Productions, the producer of the contest. The company is run by Lori Donaudy, the current Mrs. New York. If Cohen wins the title, she will go on to compete in Miss New York U.S.A. as the representative for Long Island. If she wins that competition, she will go on to compete in Miss U.S.A.

Cohen came to the University from Pennsylvania, but lived in Queens before moving there. She knew she wanted come back to New York and decided college was the best time to return. “They say home is where the heart is, and my heart is with New York,” Cohen said.

However, when choosing a college to attend, she was torn between Adelphi University and Hofstra University. A visit to a class at Hofstra helped her make up her mind. “It wasn’t straight lecture,” she said. She enjoyed how the professor interacted with the students.

Cohen was involved on campus, as a resident assistant in Constitution Hall for close to two years, and also as a student ambassador. “One of my favorite things about being a student ambassador was being a tour guide,” she reflected. She was also able to complete four internships, one as production and technical personnel for NBC at the Olympics in Torino.

She graduated in December 2006 with a degree in broadcast journalism and is currently working for a young mortgage company called Lend America. Her ultimate goal would be to be a host for a show such as Access Hollywood.

Cohen is also a member of Big Brothers, Big Sisters, an organization based on youth service, matching children through the ages of 6 to 18 with mentors. Cohen is a mentor of a 9-year-old girl.

“She is very proud of me,” Cohen said. “I would like her and her mother to come to [the pageant],” she added.

Cohen participated in two other pageants when she was living in Pennsylvania: Miss Pike County at 6-years-old and Miss Teen Pennsylvania at 14-years-old. It has been 7 years since her last pageant but “it feels like the right time,” she said.

Cohen is not letting it all go to her head though. “It is what it is,” is her motto. “I am pursuing my career. My career is what I want to be doing for the rest of my life,” she mentioned.

Cohen is going into the competition with open mind, “I am just going to be who I am; if they like me, they like me,” she said with smile.

The pageant will take place on Sept. 13, 2008, at Island Hills Golf and Country Club in Sayville, Long Island.

Crystal Cohen (Crystal Cohen)