Detours into Fame, Family Mark Student’s Winding Path to Graduation

By Sari Krosinsky
UNM Today

Jacque­line John­son and her daughters

For­mer Dal­las Cow­boys Cheer­leader and Miss New Mex­ico USA Jacque­line John­son grad­u­ated from UNM this semes­ter with a Bach­e­lor of Arts in soci­ol­ogy. She started at UNM in 1992, but delayed fin­ish­ing her edu­ca­tion to com­pete in the Miss USA pageant, cheer, coach and start a fam­ily. In 2009, she decided she needed to com­plete her degree as a role model for her two daugh­ters, ages 5 and 7.John­son said she dreamt of com­pet­ing to be Miss USA since she was a lit­tle girl and entered her first pageant at age 9. She said Miss New Mex­ico USA “is a role model to young women across the state, and she is also a source of hope and encour­age­ment for many.”

“My biggest hope for the year I reigned as Miss New Mex­ico USA was to make a pos­i­tive impact in someone’s life. At the time, I was coach­ing a cheer and dance team at Wil­son Mid­dle School here in Albu­querque. The girls on my team sent me a care pack­age in South Padre Island, where I was com­pet­ing for Miss USA. I still have the enve­lope full of their let­ters. The excite­ment and sweet words in those let­ters for­ever changed me. I knew in that moment that I was an impor­tant role model in their young lives, and that feel­ing will stay with me always.”

After another year at UNM, John­son became a Dal­las Cow­boys Cheer­leader in 1996. Audi­tion­ing for that was even more intim­i­dat­ing than com­pet­ing in the Miss USA pageant, she said. “Being a Dal­las Cow­boys Cheer­leader was one of the hard­est things I have ever done. The audi­tion process alone is enough to scare any­one away… Get­ting through train­ing camp and hav­ing the oppor­tu­nity to wear the pres­ti­gious uni­form and per­form at Texas Sta­dium in front of 64,000 fans is some­thing that still gives me goose bumps.”

In 1998 she returned briefly to UNM and coached the Chap­ar­ral dance team for a year – a team she’d danced with for three years. “It was like com­ing home,” she said. “Hav­ing the oppor­tu­nity to coach the girls and be a part of UNM Lobo ath­let­ics again was so much fun. There is noth­ing like cheer­ing on a Lobo game in The Pit!”

John­son returned to Dal­las for 10 years, where she mar­ried, had her daugh­ters and got divorced before com­ing back to Albuquerque.

She decided to return to UNM in 2009 after train­ing to become a court appointed spe­cial advo­cate for abused and neglected chil­dren. “The expe­ri­ence I had work­ing with the two chil­dren on my first case made me real­ize that I had to fin­ish. Mak­ing a pos­i­tive dif­fer­ence in the life of a child has always been where my heart is. I knew I had to fin­ish my degree in order to have a career in which I can make a dif­fer­ence every day,” she said.

She also wanted to show – and not just tell – her daugh­ters the value of edu­ca­tion. “My daugh­ters were able to wit­ness their mommy grad­u­ate col­lege, and that was worth it all,” she said.

Going back to col­lege full time was a big change. “It was a lit­tle scary to leave my job and return to school full time, but I was fol­low­ing my heart and my intu­ition,” John­son said. She said that with­out the sup­port of fam­ily and friends, “it would have been near impos­si­ble to do as well as I did. My best friend Amanda always had the most encour­ag­ing words for me when I felt like I was in over my head. My par­ents and sib­lings lent a hand when needed with my daugh­ters and were sup­port­ive of the choice I had made to fin­ish school.”

Now that she’s grad­u­ated, John­son plans to do case­work with chil­dren in the non­profit sec­tor and even­tu­ally pur­sue a master’s degree in coun­sel­ing or social work.