Claudine Williams fell just short of her goal of becoming Miss New York 2012. But before the January pageant, the certified math teacher and Norwood resident sat down with the Norwood News to talk about her upbringing in Jamaica, her views on the education system in this country, and the stigma attached to beauty pageant contestants.

You are originally from Jamaica. How was the move to the Bronx?
I’m from Clarendon, Jamaica. It was amazing to grow up there. It’s nothing like here. We weren’t sitting in front of the TV, and we were so active in school. When I came here I wanted to go back, but I became a citizen over the summer, and now I live in Norwood.

Coming from Jamaica to the Bronx, how do the schools compare?
It’s different. In Jamaica we are way more advanced. They teach you college work in high school and it’s not easy to get a 100. When I came here they wanted me to repeat a grade, and when they gave me my schedule, the math was something that I had done in primary school. I complained about it, but I had to complete the Regents.

I graduated in May of last year. I went to Farleigh Dickenson for undergrad and graduate school in a five-year program. I did my bachelor’s in math and my master’s in education. Now I’m a certified teacher, and I just got a job. [She started working at a Bronx charter school in January.]

So what made you want to enter a beauty contest?
I just want to let girls know, you can do whatever you want to accomplish. There’s a stigma with pageants and slim girls. I want girls in the Bronx to know that it doesn’t matter — if you set your goals, whatever your heart desires you can accomplish.

Do you think that stigma still exists?
I think the stigma is still there, but what the pageant is promoting is fitness. It’s not a certain weight that they’re promoting, but it’s for everybody to look fit and be the right proportions in certain areas. They encouraged us to start working out, and lay off the sugar once we got into the pageant. They do not require it, but they encouraged us because they want to promote a healthy body, and during orientation, they had different people come in like nutritionists and personal trainers, but they warned us over and over ‘do not starve yourselves’.

Math teacher and beauty pageant winner, how are they connected?
Students want a person to idolize. They are looking for someone on TV- they’re looking for this person to idolize, and if I could become Miss NY, I feel like I will grab their attention more. I think it would be a great experience for them to have a teacher that has won a pageant.

Other than holding the title within your own classroom, what are your goals in winning this pageant?
My cause is to promote better math scores among our youth, not only in the Bronx but in the city as a whole, because math scores are so low. Right now, I’m representing the Garvis school in Co-op City, where I volunteer tutor, and it doesn’t have to be math. I just want to have some program for families that have students struggling in school.

Another huge problem in the borough is people not taking care of dog waste. That’s a huge thing I would want to change.

Big plans for the future?
Well, I do want to go for my doctorate and I want to model. Even if I don’t win the pageant, my main focus will still be teaching and finding a program to help some kids. —Interview by Emily Piccone

Editor’s Note: You can follow Claudine on twitter at SuzzyW2 or check out her Facebook page.