Local Title: Miss Plymouth State Fair

School: Plymouth State University, and MBA Southern N.H. University

Rachel Petz Dowd won the title of Miss New Hampshire 1992 as Miss Plymouth State Fair. She competed four times while in college and was able to pay for half of her undergraduate tuition at Plymouth State University thanks to the scholarships she earned. In addition, she won a full scholarship to graduate school and completed her MBA at Southern New Hampshire University, where she met her husband James Dowd.

For ten years, Rachel worked as the director of Junior Achievement of New Hampshire, winning various awards, including “Business of the Year” in the non-profit category by Business NH Magazine. Today, Rachel enjoys staying home with her children full-time, while occasionally working as a singer, actress and model through agents in New Hampshire, Maine and New York. Her favorite memory of the Miss New Hampshire program was having the opportunity to become Christine from “Phantom of the Opera” when she gave up her crown in 1993. She credits the program for fostering her speaking and performance skills. For Rachel, this program paved the way for a higher education that she would have not been able to pursue alone.