Paromita Mitra, a Bangladesh origin Hattiesburg, Mississippi resident will be participating in the Miss USA Pageant during a glitzy final to be held at Las Vegas on Sunday night.
Paromita, 21, is the daughter of Dr Amal and Ratna Mitra and has one older brother Amlan, 27.
Paromita is a first-generation immigrant from Bangladesh. She migrated to the United States in 1992 when she was only one. And later her family permanently moved to Hattiesburg when she was five.
While expressing her feelings, she said: “I’ve prepared for this for so long. I’m excited for this. I started in high school doing beauty reviews. I’m excited to represent the city of Hattiesburg.”
She is currently a senior at Mississippi State University studying Aerospace Engineering with a minor in Mathematics.
Paromita credits her interest in space and engineering to her brother and her determination and hard work to her very close-knit family.
As a first generation immigrant from the country of Bangladesh, she grasps every opportunity thrown her way. She says it is a way to thank the US for allowing her and her family to be citizens of this amazing country full of opportunities.
Throughout her years at Oak Grove High School, Paromita served as senior class president, homecoming queen, and participated on the robotics team, cheerleading squad, wind ensemble, gifted art program and speech/debate team.
During this time she was selected debate team MVP for acting, All-American cheerleader nominee, and won multiple awards for her oil painting and fashion design pieces. Musically, she is trained in piano, clarinet, and drums. She also received consecutive highest ratings for piano with the National Festival of Music Club and was a clarinettist in Mississippi's district five Honour band.
At Mississippi State University (MSU), she is a member of American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics (AIAA), MSU Space Cowboys Rocket Design Team, and MSU Fashion Board- a selective on campus modelling group for print and runway work. She also worked as an undergraduate researcher for a Nasa funded program where she received 1st and 3rd place recognition both regionally and nationally for her research.
Paromita enjoys different cultures and travelling. She can speak four different languages, has once flown a plane, and also travelled the country of Italy on a study abroad program. On her spare time she enjoys baking cakes, astronomy, and canoe trips. In the future, she plans to attain a pilot license. Upon graduation, she plans to work for an esteemed space company. Along with her educational goals she plans to pursue a career in TV or acting as well.
Going along with her love of travelling, Paromita visited overseas to her place of birth where she had the opportunity to teach cleft palette/lip patients about post-surgery precautions. She claims it was humbling to see how grateful the poverty stricken children were of her services. This experience sparked her interest in the Operation Smile organization as she plans to work with the charity in the future.
Paromita is also an advocate for higher education: influencing science, technology, engineering, and math topics in the youth. As the educational outreach co-director of The Space Cowboys, Paromita & her rocket team received 1st place in the nation from AIAA for their work with education. She has travelled to schools all over Mississippi speaking about rocketry and space topics while implementing hands-on activities to promote science. Each year the team holds the Middle School Launch Challenge to encourage model rocketry.
Another charity close to her heart is assisting the mentally aided. Paromita served as a summer camp counsellor at Abbie RogerÕs Civitan Camp for the special needs community. One week of taking close care of a camper proved to be a life changing experience for Mitra. The time she spent with her assigned camper opened her eyes to the innocence and joy the mentally aided community brings to the world. Paromita said she got her “love of all things” space from her family.
“My brother and family were huge space enthusiasts,” she said. “We would always go to the planetarium growing up.”
