Miss Bel Air 2024 twirls fire and has an eye for art
"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, like, awestruck," Gianna Romero said.
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, 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.”