MISS MISSOURI VISITS CAPE

At the end of a long day, she likes to go home, kick off her high-heeled shoes, put away her crown and curl up with a steaming cup of hot chocolate.

Being Miss Missouri is a full-time job for Kimberly Massaro.

"There's some days when I don't want to get up in the morning and put on high heels and wear makeup," Massaro said, during a stop at the All American Kids shop in Cape Girardeau Thursday. "But I've also applied for this job and I knew what it meant to be Miss Missouri and I'm prepared for the year ahead of me."

The 24-year-old St. Louis native, who started her road to a fourth-runner-up finish in the 1996 Miss America Pageant by winning the Miss Jackson Pageant this year, said she has learned a lot about herself since being crowned Miss Missouri in June.

"More than anything I've learned that I'm a very strong-willed person," she said. "I worked hard all summer long to become the best Kim Massaro that I could be at Miss America. I didn't go there to be Miss America. I went there to be Kim Massaro and if that was Miss America then great."

The Miss America experience was a rewarding one for Massaro, who became involved in the program at the urging of a former Miss Missouri.

"She told me I should use my talent, tap dancing, to try to win a scholarship to pay for my education," she said. "So she got me started."

Massaro left a job as a fourth-grade teacher at Carrollton Oaks Elementary School in St. Louis to become Miss Missouri. She will be the state's ambassador until June.

"I'm just down talking to students about what makes Missouri special and what are some of the things that are special to me as Miss Missouri," she said "I describe to them a little bit about the year ahead of me and what the job of Miss Missouri entails."

Her stop at the All American Kids shop certainly got the word out. All American Kids Manager Arlinda McElmurry said she was "very thrilled with the turnout," and said as many as 60 visitors came through the store during Massaro's two-hour stop.

Massaro said that kind of attention would have been uncomfortable for her a few years ago.

"I was very shy as a child and my family thought putting me in dancing maybe would help," she said. "My teachers in grade school and high school I don't think ever would believe that I would have gone on to become Miss Missouri because I was very shy."

And even though she wasn't crowned Miss America, Massaro said the experience was quite fulfilling.

"We pigged out while we were there," she said laughing. "Eating was not a problem. I was really surprised because when I got there I thought the girls would worry about their weight and what they were eating and no one did. We were all having such a good time and rehearsing so hard it didn't matter. We enjoyed the time that we had there and didn't worry about what we were eating."

And when her stint as Miss Missouri dwindles down to a packed year of memories she said she won't have any regrets.

"As time goes on, life brings so many new experiences," she said. "This has definitely been a highlight of my life and probably will continue to be a highlight of my life. But now I'm looking forward to getting my master's degree, having my own family and watching the wonderful things that will evolve by having my own family."