Maybe it's her good looks. Or, maybe it's the fact that on top of those, she speaks six languages, juggles a fast-paced defense consulting career with serving in the Army reserve and is passionate about bettering Virginia's school system. But in the 2005 Mrs. Virginia contest, judges saw something in Rose López-Keravuori, of Arlington, that they liked.
"I read an article about the contest and I thought it would be a fun thing to do on a whim, after I've spent so much time in a male-dominated environment," said López-Keravuori, who was crowned Mrs. Virginia in May. "I had been wondering what would be the best way to get my message about education out there."
Since accepting the title, López-Keravuori has begun speaking at schools in Northern Virginia advocating for increased teacher salaries and parental involvement in education.
"If you think about the last Super Bowl, the lowest-rated player on the losing team, the guys who sat on the bench for the entire game, they made more doing that in one night than a teacher makes in years," she said. "Teachers need to be paid more."
Raising teacher salaries is just one part of López-Keravuori's education platform, a campaign she sums up as the three R's: Resources, Role Models and Rewards. The first place to seek role models for children, she said, should be the home.
"I was lucky to have a mother and father who guided me and emphasized getting an education," she said. "Some children just don't. I remind parents that they are the first role models kids have."
THE R FOR REWARDS stems from the benefits of learning, an idea she tries to instill in young people. Her own career is a perfect example of how education can open doors to new opportunity.
Growing up in Los Angeles — the daughter of a Mexican-American father and a mother who immigrated from Cuba — she said her parents stressed the value of education and serving the greater community. That is part of the reason, López-Keravuori said, that after graduating from high school she applied to West Point. The military is also something of a family tradition, she said. Her father joined the U.S. Army at age 17, not long before the end of World War II. Like many West Point cadets, López-Keravuori found the training harder than she had imagined.
"But I just told everyone there was no way I was coming home," she said. "Everyone there was a track star. I was the slowest runner."
Yet after four years, she had shaved off some minutes from her track times and become a leader in her class. As a cadet, she was chosen to represent West Point abroad at the Mexican Military Academy and the French Military Academy at St. Cyr. She graduated in 1997 and soon left home for her first overseas post in the town of Bad Kreuznach, Germany, as a lieutenant in Army Intelligence.
It was there that she met Eero, now her husband. When she first came to him with the idea of entering the contest on a whim, he said, there was little doubt that her mind was set on it. He decided to help, even taking on the role of her makeup artist and doing her hair at the last minute.
"As this makeup expert was showing her how to put it on, I drew a paint-by-number diagram," he said. "It came to [be] the pageant day, and she was so nervous that it didn't look right, so I took over."
The two were in the same graduating class at West Point but had never encountered one another until a social gathering on the base. She would stay in Europe for six years, serving three tours in the Balkans — including one with peace-keeping forces in Kosovo and one in Macedonia following the Sept. 11 attacks.
AFTER LEAVING ACTIVE DUTY, they both needed some time off. For about a year and a half, they backpacked throughout Asia, Africa and the Americas, even stopping to visit relatives in Cuba. It was an eye-opening experience for them. Since visiting Africa, her husband has gotten involved with Equip Africa, a project to provide educational necessities to the continent's poor. And she also began looking for ways to effect change. One was the Mrs. Virginia contest, she said. Entry to it is based on applications, but winning is much tougher.
"It's about more than just being in a swimsuit on TV," she said, pointing out that the interview counts for 50 percent of the score.
When it came time for the contestants to take questions from the judges, some got asked about cooking. She was asked to say something in each of the six languages she speaks.
"I just rattled off something in Spanish," she said. "In French, I said I hoped that I won and then I switched to Hungarian and then German and then Chinese."
In the coming weeks, López-Keravuori said she plans more speaking engagements at local schools. According to her Web site, www.MrsVirginia2005.com, she has gained sponsorship from Capital Partners for Education, a mentoring group, and Lead Star, an organization devoted to empowering women. She lives in Crystal City with Eero and works for RGS Consulting.