Miss Rhode Island Teen USA 2017 Alexa Papigiotis grew up in North Providence, and was a very active child that loved trying new things. She participated in sports such as T-ball, soccer, floor hockey, gymnastics, dance, flag-cheerleading, figure skating, and high school cheerleading. She excelled in figure skating, skipping 2-3 levels at a time and being awarded a silver medal in her competition! As for high school cheerleading, she was listed as one of the Top 20 cheerleaders in the state of Rhode Island. Throughout these activities, Alexa realized her passion is being in front of an audience performing. This is still Alexa’s passion, as well as public speaking. In her junior year of high school, Alexa was inducted into the National Honor Society and Rhode Island Honor Society for her hard work and GPA in school. Within the time she spent in the National Honor Society she began to enjoy the acts of community service and volunteer work, and planned to continue it after graduating and throughout her life.
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Life before the Miss Rhode Island Teen USA title was not the easiest; Alexa experienced many hardships. In 6th grade Alexa was cyber bullied along with being physically bullied and threatened severely over a social media website, leaving her in tears after school everyday. Fortunately, Alexa and her parents took the right precautions, and she even happened to appear on a special episode of 48 Hours about bullying where she spoke about her experience at 12 years old on national television. Now in the present, Alexa struggles daily with severe anxiety, making it difficult to do normal activities without getting nervous. She suffers from bad panic attacks, which make it hard to enjoy some parts of life. Alexa is positive, ambitious, and faithful. She never lets any obstacles get in the way of her goals and dreams.