January 12, 2010
MACOMB, IL – - Miss Illinois 2009 Erin O’Connor, who is a Western Illinois University theatre-acting major and dance minor, was interviewed on ABC7 Chicago (WLS-TV) Jan. 11 by Hosea Sanders.
The interview, which is available at http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?sectionresources&idr11510, includes a look at the upcoming Miss America Pageant (www.missamerica.org) at 7 p.m. (CT) Saturday, Jan. 30 in Las Vegas, which will be televised live on TLC; as well as O’Connor’s platform, which is skin cancer education and prevention. The 20-year-old lost her mother to melanoma in May 2007.
“Since that time, I have devoted myself to skin cancer prevention by working as an advocate for the American Cancer Society,” said O’Connor, who was a team captain in a Spring 2009 Relay for Life event at Western that raised $1,500 for cancer research. She also speaks to schoolchildren about skin cancer prevention.
For her talent, O’Connor (Evergreen Park, IL) will perform ballet en pointe to Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody.”
O’Connor was crowned the 2009 Miss Illinois June 20 at the Miss Illinois Pageant in
St. Charles.
She has performed in University Theatre productions, unrehearsed Shakespeare plays through the theatre department and two major dance shows each year. O’Connor plans on returning to Western to finish her degree in theatre and possibly pursue a Master of Fine Arts degree.
She is the daughter of Terrence O’Connor and the late Mary Kay O’Connor of Evergreen Park and a graduate of Mother McAuley Liberal Arts High School (Chicago).
Copy By: Bonnie Barker
