Alayna Westcom won't be twirling a baton, tap dancing or belting out a Broadway show tune at the Miss America pageant Thursday night.
Instead, the 2016 Miss Vermont will don protective goggles, mix some chemicals and create a foamy eruption she calls "elephant's toothpaste" when it's her turn to perform in the talent portion of the third and final night of preliminary competition.
"There will be a lot of bubbles," she promises. "And there will be some loud noises."
The experiment involves combining potassium iodide, hydrogen peroxide and soap. The result is an eruption of foam shooting skyward out of a beaker.
She considered other, even more disruptive experiments but was restrained by the pageant's rules prohibiting the use of fire or projectiles.
Westcom has immersed herself in science and wants to encourage girls and young women to do so as well. She graduated in 2013 with a degree in forensic science from Bay Path University in Longmeadow, Massachusetts, and got an internship with the Vermont state medical examiner's office, which is her career goal.
"I got to see firsthand what the medical examiner's office does, how it handles cases and interacts with families," she said. "It's not at all like on TV shows."
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Winners in the swimsuit and talent preliminary competitions accrue points that boost their scores heading into Sunday night's nationally televised finale.
They also receive scholarships of $1,000 for swimsuit and $2,000 for talent.
So far, Miss South Carolina Daja Dial and Miss Florida Mary Katherine Fechtel have won the swimsuit preliminaries, while Miss Iowa Taylor Wiebers and Miss Louisiana April Nelson have won the talent portion.
The contestants will display their state-specific footwear at Saturday's "Show Us Your Shoes" parade on the Atlantic City Boardwalk.
