05-19-2024 Harford Magazine - Flipbook - Page 46
3 THINGS
BY MIKE KLINGAMAN Harford Magazine
Gianna
Romero
Miss Bel Air 2024
PHOTO BY KARL MERTON FERRON
At 19, Gianna Romero has excelled in a
wealth of activities, from ballet to baton twirling, and from acrobatics to art. In March, the
Joppatowne native was named Miss Bel Air
2024. A graduate of the John Carroll School,
Romero is a freshman and dean’s list student
at Stevenson University, majoring in business
communications.
Here are three things you may not know
about Romero:
Flaming batons catch her fancy.
“I’ve twirled fire; it’s the same as baton
twirling except for the fire blazing at both ends.
I love to see peoples’ reactions — everyone is,
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| Summer 2024 | harfordmagazine.com
like, awestruck. At first, when I did it [at age 15]
I was a little hesitant, but it’s the coolest thing
ever. I’ve burned my arm slightly, but nothing
major. Unfortunately, here at Stevenson, I can’t
twirl fire on the [athletic] field because it’s turf
and they keep it pristine, but I’m looking for
every opportunity to do it here somewhere.”
She loved ballet … the second time around.
“As a toddler, my parents put me into dance,
but I was not a fan. In pictures of me, at 2 or 3
[years old] in my baby tap and ballet classes, I
look very much upset. I think I had more energy than I could let out in those classes. So I got
into gymnastics and then came back to dance
at 9, and I was absolutely in love. I like to move
freely and to leap so high that I almost feel I
have wings. My high school track coach tried to
recruit me, but I didn’t have the time.”
Romero has a taste for fine arts.
“I helped paint a floor-to-ceiling mural on
a wall in Mucho Gusto, a restaurant in Bel Air.
The summer before my senior year, four of us
[art students at John Carroll] got to do it. We
painted bricks in muted colors of brown and
yellow [as a backdrop] and then did a rainbow
tapestry draped around a sombrero. It took us
two days and they provided us lunch, which was
greatly appreciated.”
