The first Miss Greater Berkshires

Deirdre Mason-Hauver will compete in the Miss Massachusetts Pageant

Deirdre Ashley Mason-Hauver is the first Miss Greater Berkshires 2002, crowned in August. She will compete in the Miss Massachusetts pageant in June, and has a chance of going on to the Miss America pageant. She is a freshman at Berkshire Community College.

Where are you from? Williamstown. I grew up in Savoy. I loved it. I want to move back. We moved away in fourth grade. My dream when I grow up is to buy a huge farm and take in all the little animals with no homes, and give them a home until someone comes and adopts them. I want to start a big animal paradise.

How old are you? I'm 18 -- I just made the deadline for the pageant. I just graduated from Mount Greylock, where I was captain of the cheerleading squad. I love cheerleading, and I'm missing it very much.

What are you majoring in at BCC? They call it animal care, but I'm actually getting my pre-veterinary classes here instead of at UMass. I was supposed to go to UMass in pre-veterinary medicine, but I wasn't ready to leave my family. I'm going to transfer.

How did you hear about the pageant? Well, it's been my dream to do something like this since I was little. My mother came rushing home from work, showing me an article in the paper -- in Berkshires Week -- about the program.

What did you do for your talent? Ballet. I've been doing it since I was little, I was about 5 when I started. I was the smallest one in the class. I'm with a really wonderful instructor right now, and she has me advancing in so many ways, it's wonderful. Her name is Marilyn Cavalleri. She's with Ballet Manchester. We perform the "Nutcracker" every year as well as a spring performance. I had a solo part in "The Nutcracker," last year, and I'll have a solo again this year.

I did a dance from "Swan Lake" for my talent.

When is the Miss Massachusetts pageant? In June.

So you'll be working with your teacher to prepare something? Oh yes, her brain is already going. It might not be on pointe. I am on pointe, but when you don't know the stage you'll be performing on, it's better to learn the dance on flat. For the Miss Greater Berkshires pageant, I thought I was performing on a stage, but I had to do it on a baseball field, on the grass, and it was wet because it had rained. So if I was on pointe, I would have had trouble.

You'll need an evening gown ... I have a closet just filled with prom dresses, because I can't wear them more than once and I just can't give them away because they hold memories. I work part time at a bridal store, so I get first pick.

Was it exciting, that this was the first Miss Greater Berkshires pageant ever? Yes. I'm the first ever Miss Greater Berkshires. Of course, Miss Massachusetts is bigger. And I heard that it's very competitive.

Are you nervous about the swimsuit competition? No, it doesn't bother me. I'm comfortable with my body, and if you can get up on stage in a leotard, you can certainly be on stage in a bathing suit. Plus, I do a lot of local fashion shows at the Mall, so I'm used to being looked at. It's only 10 percent of the score. Interview is much more important, and talent. It's a lot less about a pretty face and a Barbie doll figure and a lot more about what you represent and how knowledgeable you are. Really just being a good role model.

What was your motivation -- the scholarship money? I won $700 -- that helps a lot. I just thought it would be really fun, and it has been really fun, and I have a whole year to look forward to. It's something to tell your grandkids about. And because I'm the first, I get to design it -- I'm setting the standard. It's awesome. And I get to wear my crown.

Tell me about your platform. It's animal rights. I'm interested in everything. Locally, I volunteer at the Eleanor Sonsini Municipal Animal Shelter in Pittsfield. No one knows we're there, that makes it hard. We have dogs and cats to be adopted, and we're no-kill. Space is a big issue. That's one thing I want to help with. To get more space for no-kill shelters and city shelters. I want to help get rid of pit-bull fighting in Pittsfield, and I know it goes on, because we get the dogs at the shelter. And they're so sweet. I have a weakness for pit bulls. They're really great animals and they get bad reputations.

How many animals do you have? I have 10 dogs, total, and a horse, five cats, a pot-belly pig, a rabbit and a goldfish -- one lonely goldfish -- I've had since the fifth grade. When I was growing up we had 16 dogs and 32 cats, because we just took in all kinds of animals. Because we lived in Savoy, people dropped off boxes of kittens. My mother and I have a big weakness. How can you turn away a cute little furry face?

When you're a vet would you like to have a small animal practice or more for farm animals? I want to do everything. Actually, where our horse is, I saved a baby cow. He was out in the field, and they brought in all the cows, and nobody saw him. It was getting dark, and I saw something in the field, and it was the cutest calf. I had to pick him up, and he was as tall as I am -- when they're born they're all legs -- he was all slimy, he had just been born. I had to carry him to the barn. He was so cute -- all grey with a little white star on his forehead.

I work in an animal hospital right now -- at the Greylock Animal Hospital in Williamstown. I'm a technician and receptionist. I hold animals, give certain vaccines, draw blood, fill prescriptions, and I get to observe lots of very neat surgeries.

Do you know what kind of activities you'll be doing this year? I want to work on my platform a lot. It means a lot to me. I know people have to eat meat. I'm a vegetarian, although not everyone in my family is. I want to improve the way they treat dairy cattle and beef cattle. We've been learning a lot about it in Animal Science in school. The teacher is right -- people just don't want to know what goes on, or how they get their food. They've removed themselves from the process. I think they need to know about it. I just think that people are not well informed about how animals are treated, whether it be in shelters or in homes or in meat factories. Animals deserve more respect.

What can people do to help the city animal shelter in Pittsfield? We need more space, and we need donations in the form of veterinary care. A lot of them come in and need a lot done. Certainly people donating time is wonderful. You can never play enough with the dogs and the kittens and the cats. They'll never turn you away. We need donations of anything people use for their dogs -- blankets, and peanut butter, cat food, dog food. Anything helps.

If you want a companion, come and get one from us. Our dogs are great. If you need a companion for life, they're your buddy.

Do you take home a lot of animals from the shelter? No, I'm not allowed to. But I am fostering a dog, until he's ready to be adopted. He's a pit bull. Nico has already improved a lot, and he's available for adoption. We're working on sit. He knows sit, but he doesn't know sit and stay. Stay is very tough.

You're incredibly busy, between the shelter, the jobs, ballet and school. You must be a high energy person. Yes, sometimes. I do like my days in bed. I like to lounge in my sweat pants with a million animals around me in bed, which is wonderful. They're nice heaters in the winter.

Will you be disappointed if you don't win? I'll try again next year. I plan on it. If I don't win Miss Massachusetts, I'll try for Miss Greater Berkshires again. A lot of girls do it again.