9 young women competing for 2023 title Aug. 13 at Ocean City Music Pier
OCEAN CITY — Miss Ocean City Maddyn Randazzo fell in love with aviation when she was in middle school and her science teacher had a flight simulator in the classroom. That propelled her into a future filled with airplanes.
On Saturday, Aug. 13, Randazzo will crown her successor at the Ocean City Music Pier, and soon after will take off to begin her junior year at The Ohio State University.
Before her final walk down the extended stage, she wanted to be near another runway for her end-of-term portrait — the runway at the Ocean City Municipal Airport.
Randazzo, who is studying aviation management, wanted to be pictured, in her crown and sash, showing that fast-approaching future.
In eighth grade, she was not into science “at all.”
“I was probably the worst science student, but then we had this whole unit on planes, flying and aviation. I excelled in that. I tried the flight simulator out and loved it,” she said. “I was the only kid in the classroom attached to it 24/7.”
She didn’t want to become a pilot for a commercial airline but she did want to learn to fly. She also grew up around her father, watching him take business calls.
“He’s very good at what he does and I’ve always been impressed by that, so I combined the two together — aviation management — and that led me to Ohio State.”
She wants to become an aviation broker, working for a charter company doing sales.
“I’m looking to get my internship next summer and progress from there,” she said. “I learn from experience, so I’m looking forward to what the next 10 years bring to me in my career.”
After perhaps a decade earning her wings, she hopes to start her own business.
She will be a pilot as well. During her photo session at the airport, she was thrilled when a couple getting ready to fly out of Ocean City let her stand by the same type of plane in which she has been training. (See photo.)
“I want to get my pilot’s license. I was really close this summer but I had to stop training because I was so busy,” she said.
Long ties to O.C.
She is the daughter of Chris and Jeniene Randazzo of Bryn Mawr, Pa. Maddyn and her family have been coming to their summer home in the resort, she estimates, since she was three weeks old. She has three younger siblings — Max, Morgan and Mason — who also get to enjoy Ocean City in the summer.
To say Randazzo loves Ocean City would be an understatement.
“Ocean City has been so wonderful,” she said. “The best part has been meeting all these wonderful people and getting to share experiences with them.”
“You just come down here and it’s the best family resort to go to. Everyone is so fun. It’s light-hearted. There aren’t a lot of places you have to be on time,” she said.
As Miss Ocean City, she has “loved meeting all the families and their kids, seeing all of them in the parades passing by in their cute little outfits.”
She has enjoyed making cookies and french fry sculptures during Wacky Wednesday events. As an ambassador to the resort, she attends scores of activities. It was a little tougher during the school year, but she came home from Ohio State about once a month to be at city events and during the summer has probably been to all of them.
Her favorite was Night in Venice in July.
“I had never been to Night in Venice before and it was crazy seeing all the houses getting into it, let alone the boats. The houses were just incredible. I mean the themes, everyone getting so into it,” she said. “There are huge parties and everyone looks like they’re having the best time ever and I got to spend it on a boat with my Little Miss (Arianna DiAntonio) and Junior Miss (Makenna Fleming). We just had the best time and the fireworks afterward just put the cherry on top.”
Never cared about winning
Randazzo said winning was never the point for her about the pageants. She started in Little Miss Ocean City when she was 8 years old, then did Junior Miss Ocean City and had competed in Miss Ocean City a few times before she won. (Little Miss is for girls age 8 to 11, Junior Miss for girls 12-15 and Miss Ocean City for young women 16-22.)
“I had so much fun doing it. It didn’t matter to me who won or the scholarships and everything. It was really that I had so much fun doing it,” she said. “That’s why I kept coming back to it every year.”
That’s also why she encourages others to participate in the pageants — the fun and what can be learned.
“It didn’t really hit me what I was learning from Miss Ocean City until the last couple of years doing it,” she said. “Just going through the interview process alone has taught me how to talk to people and really prepared me for real job interviews.
“Watching myself grow through the Miss Ocean City pageants has been really cool, to be honest. You get to meet all these incredible people while you’re doing it. The girls I have met through it has been the best part of it. That’s why I kept coming back year after year because pageant week was the best week ever. I definitely encourage everyone to do it,” she said.
“It’s a lot of fun, you’ll learn a lot and you’ll meet some great people.”
No connection needed to watch the pageant
There are nine young women who will be competing for the 2023 Miss Ocean City crown Saturday. The competition will begin at 7 p.m., admission is $15, and contestants will compete in interview (prior to the pageant), talent, swimsuit, poise and on-stage question. This year’s contestants are Brielle McDowell, Callie Bellwoar, Ella Curtin, Gabrielle Waid, Grace Oves, Jessica Wriggins, Jordan Fritsch, Natalie Argento and Summer Castro.
“It’s just a great night of fun,” Randazzo said. “At least from a dancer’s perspective (that is her talent), I’m still going to go to the pageants even when I’m not Miss Ocean City because it’s so much fun watching everyone’s talents and the on-stage interview questions and the poise — you get to see everyone’s dresses and how they handle themselves on stage. It’s a really fun night in general. I think everyone would have a great time if they came to it.”
By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff