Fra Noi Embrace Your Inner Italian
A 21-year-old college student and lawyer-to-be from Illinois is looking forward to a September trip to Rome, Florence and Venice as part of her prize for winning the Miss Italia America pageant.
Olimpia Giacalone, 21, a native of Norridge, Illinois, is majoring in English with minors in Italian and philosophy from Loyola University Chicago, from which she expects to graduate in May 2024. She is a graduate of Saint Viator High School in Arlington Heights, Illinois.
Giacalone was crowned in March in Miami. She entered the pageant because she thought it would be an exciting experience after participating in the Columbus Queen Pageant hosted by the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans in Chicago, she says.
“I believe that pageants are not outdated, as they are a fun and fashionable way for women to express their femininity and grace,” she says.
She wants to become a lawyer out of a desire to help others. “My family instilled in me a strong sense of concern for others, and a law career would help me fulfill that,” she says. She is inspired by former U.S. Supreme Court justices Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, “who took a stand against injustice and changed the lives of many for the better,” she says.
Giacalone works as a swim instructor and lifeguard in Norridge, and is an Italian peer tutor at the Loyola University Chicago Tutoring Center, where she is also a member of the Training and Professional Development Council.
