America’s Junior Miss award won by girl of Bangladeshi origin

[cricket_dorshok]

Seventeen-year-old Nora Ali, the second of three daughters of Bangladeshi immigrants, was crowned as America’s Junior Miss 2007 last Saturday.
Nora won the final competition, held in Alabama, and bagged a reward of more than $60,000, according to http://wcco.com.
‘I just want to start a business and maybe even start a bio-medical company with my older sister who does stem cell research. So I’m open to possibilities,’ Nora told journalists.
Nora, an accomplished pianist, is also the second winner from Minnesota in the 50-year history of the Junior Miss programme.
Nora, who plans to attend Harvard in the autumn to prepare for a career in Business Management or Finance, said, ‘I’ve learned a lot about myself. This whole programme taught me to be confident and just to be myself.’
She will depart for a media tour in New York City in a couple of weeks, and will also make appearances at various places throughout the country to promote the Be Your Best Self programme.
Nora’s parents, Zaki Ali and Mahfuza Ali, emigrated from Bangladesh in 1977. They both earned their PhD’s in chemistry and got jobs with 3M.
‘We are very lucky. God blessed us with amazingly intelligent, talented children,’ Mahfuza told journalists.
Nora’s older sister Nicole, who plans to get her PhD in biophysics, earned a scholarship to Harvard for stem cell research which she started at age 14. Her younger sister Leeza is a rising 9th grader.
The competition is not a traditional beauty pageant; the girls are judged on the basis of their academic achievements, interview skills, and talent and fitness levels.

newagebd.com

[cricket_pagol]

http://wcco.com/slideshows/local_sli...1/view?slide=7
No shortage of talent here. Nora played the violin for the talent portion of the competition. The backup music was also her on piano recorded ahead of time. She�s been playing the piano for 13 years, the violin for 11 years.

This is quite impressive!!!

[One World]

very pretty sight. at least she did not score 62/10.

[ialbd]

Originally Posted by One World
very pretty sight. at least she did not score 62/10.

haha... everything tastes so much sweeter when that comes in mind...

p.s: congrats to Nora Ali...

[RazabQ]

talk about a super achieving family. My parents must not hear of her clan - ever!

[Rabz]

Congrats to her.well done.
A talented bunch indeed.

[Tigers_eye]

Nora, Nicole, Leeza?? What type of names are these? Specially when parents names are Zaki and Mahfuza?? Grandparents must not have any inputs.

Best wishes to the family. Allah jarey daiy tarey chappor maira daiy.

[Fazal]

Congratulation to Ali Family. What an Ideal family.

The rumor is Jawed Karim and Nicole Ali match was explored by the family but didn't worked out due to age difference (I guess). Who knows Ilias and Nora may work out? No ? May be not... she is now hot (shot) and he is not (yet). But people are saying he is more talented than his BIG brother.

btw both parents are scientists working for same company, 3M. Hmmm.. I see some connection there.

[ialbd]

Originally Posted by Fazal
The rumor is Jawed Karim and Nicole Ali match was explored by the family but didn't worked out due to age difference (I guess). Who knows Ilias and Nora may work out? No ? May be not... she is now hot (shot) and he is not (yet). But people are saying he is more talented than his BIG brother.

spicy rumour I must say......

[Aritro]

Her cousins live in Melbourne.

You'd feel a bit insecure being related to them I reckon.

[shujan]

She is pretty!

[cricketboy]

Wonderful news!

[Nafis_BD]

Congrats to her!!

[israr]

Congratulations to her!!!!!!
Just one question: Can she speak in Bengali language and understand Bangla?

[capslock]

She started Harvard at 14? I think I am going to faint.

I couldn't even spell harvard at that age.

It's going to be tough to get a husband for someone with standards like that.

[Rabz]

Originally Posted by capslock
She started Harvard at 14? I think I am going to faint.

I couldn't even spell harvard at that age.

It's going to be tough to get a husband for someone with standards like that.

She would end up with some congressman's son or something like that.

[Electrequiem]

Harvard...at 14?!

My God. That is a remarkable feat, indeed. It's my dream school!

[B.A.F]

Originally Posted by capslock
She started Harvard at 14? I think I am going to faint.

I couldn't even spell harvard at that age.

It's going to be tough to get a husband for someone with standards like that.

Nope. Nope. Nope. She just finished college and will start on a scholarship.

[Ajfar]

In 1977, Zaki and Mahfuza Ali left their home in Dhaka, Bangladesh, for the U.S. with just a few dollars in their pockets and thoughts of the American dream in their heads. They earned Ph.D.'s in chemistry, got jobs with 3M in St. Paul, Minn., and raised three daughters.
On Saturday, 30 years after they first came to America, their daughter Nora was named America's Junior Miss.
"I cannot describe to you in words how I felt," Nora's mother, Mahfuza said Sunday. "The place I came from, and where we are now, it's huge for us."
"It's motivated me where my parents came from to where they are now," Nora Ali said. "It's what drives me and keeps me going, because I don't want to just slack off and stay where I am. I'd like to go further."

Winning the competition Saturday at the Mobile Civic Center could help her do that. Ali left Mobile with $54,000 from the competition to help pay her way through Harvard, where she will enroll in classes this fall.
High school seniors from all 50 states spent the past two weeks in Mobile competing to be the 50th America's Junior Miss. The girls rehearsed their performances and found time to eat oysters, learn how to line dance and spend a day on the beach.
Ali had never heard of America's Junior Miss before last year. She was searching the Internet for scholarship competitions and the 50-year-old organization based in Mobile caught her eye.
Junior Miss organizers often stress that their program is not a beauty pageant. Girls are judged on their scholastics, an interview, fitness, self-expression and a talent performance.
"When I saw the categories, it was like, 'This is me rolled into one,'" Ali said.
That's not to say Ali isn't a beauty. She has long black hair, smooth caramel-colored skin and a bright smile. Her eyebrows curl like comet tails above her soft brown eyes.
She also is a National Merit Scholar who does stem cell research in her spare time, and a talented musician who plays with two symphonies and a quartet in Minnesota and has performed the national anthem on the violin at Minnesota Twins games.
Her violin performance of "Zigeunerweisen," by the Spanish composer Pablo de Sarasate earned roaring approval from the crowd Saturday night and helped her clinch the title.
When she was 12-years-old, Ali played a piano piece on the PBS and National Public Radio show "From the Top." She told a national audience that she wanted one day to be CEO of a major corporation and "a multi-billionaire."
That still remains her goal. "If I can transcend the chasm that my parents crossed in my own way, then I can be CEO of some company," she said Sunday.
Ali has visited the country her parents emigrated from twice, when she was one and when she was 10. That second time, she played a concert for her dying grandfather.
Memories of that trip are still vivid. She said she remembers bargaining with store owners over shoes and clothes and watching rickshaws zip by her in the streets of Dhaka, the country's capital.
"It's like a parade in Disney World when you go on the streets," she said. "It's nice to feel that this is my culture, this is where I came from."
Mahfuza Ali said dozens of her family members living in Australia and Bangladesh watched Ali win through the live webcast of the show. "Everybody left me long messages, but I don't hear anything because there is so much background noise," she said. "Everyone is having a party in their house."
Mahfuza Ali said she was worried when her daughter flew to Mobile. Nora was often sick as a child and still has several allergies, and Mahfuza said she did not know whether her daughter would hold up during the two weeks away from home.
"I didn't know that you had this quality, that you were this strong," Mahfuza told Nora Sunday morning.
In two weeks, Ali will travel to New York City with several America's Junior Miss executives to meet with potential sponsors and conduct interviews with national media outlets.
Organizers are hoping Ali can help them strengthen the program. Two years ago, several national sponsors pulled out their support after the organization could not find a national broadcast partner.
For Ali, the most memorable part of her two weeks in Mobile were the people she met. Being around so many motivated young people made her feel good about the future of the country, she said, and it also gave her a new group of friends.
"I expected, putting 50 girls together, there would be some catfights, some drama queens not getting along," she said. "Not at all. Literally, everybody got along. It was honest, too. It wasn't just fake being nice.
"We've become really, really good friends."


http://blog.al.com/juniormiss/2007/0...from_bang.html

n check out this videoo

http://youtube.com/watch?v=v_JQbpcjaQU

[Ajfar]

Originally Posted by israr
Congratulations to her!!!!!!
Just one question: Can she speak in Bengali language and understand Bangla?

she can speak.bangla...i knw her thru facebook...

[Kabir]

Originally Posted by bangladesh_sy
she can speak.bangla...i knw her thru facebook...

Damn. Invite her to BC immediately. We'll make her Miss BC too!!!

[Kabir]

The previous video is cut out. Here's an extended video...I just wish I could play violine like her.

http://www.kare11.com/video/life/com...?aid=35358&bw=

[kalpurush]

Originally Posted by Kabir
The previous video is cut out. Here's an extended video...I just wish I could play violine like her.

http://www.kare11.com/video/life/com...?aid=35358&bw=

Really great! Congrats to Miss Ali! And, Imran...thanks for the video. I wish if I could exchange my lazy fingers with her...

[Kabir]

Originally Posted by kalpurush
Really great! Congrats to Miss Ali! And, Imran...thanks for the video. I wish if I could exchange my lazy fingers with her...

Bhaijan, that's what I'm saying. I used to play guitar, and then gave up after making sufficient progress to play complete songs. And now I regreat

It's so entertaining to see this girl play this instrument.

[kalpurush]

Originally Posted by Kabir
Bhaijan, that's what I'm saying. I used to play guitar, and then gave up after making sufficient progress to play complete songs. And now I regreat

It's so entertaining to see this girl play this instrument.

Why regreat?....just start again...give us a cause to smile!