Harpswell resident Lizzie Baker, a pediatrician and volunteer, will compete for the title of Miss Maine for America Strong in South Portland on April 2.
Baker was chosen to compete for the title from a field of local applicants. “Lizzie’s commitment to giving back to her community springs in part from inspiration from her mother, Candice Elizabeth Warren, a Cape Elizabeth resident who lost her courageous seven-year battle against terminal lung cancer in 2022,” according to Baker’s announcement.
Baker has volunteered for the Dempsey Center for more than eight years, as a cycling training coordinator and cycling ambassador for the Dempsey Challenge and as a skier with the Sugarloaf Charity Challenge.
In 2022, she donated more than $12,000 and raised more than $14,000 for the center’s Space to Breathe program, which hosts adolescents who have a sibling or parent with cancer for a weeklong camp focused on bonding and coping skills.
Baker has participated in the American Lung Association’s Trek Across Maine, an annual bicycle trip and fundraiser. She will represent Maine this year as one of the association’s Lung Force Heroes, traveling to Washington, D.C., to share her mother’s story.
Baker, formerly of Freeport and Scarborough, has lived in Harpswell since 2020. A pediatric hospitalist, she holds a medical degree from the University of Vermont and a master’s degree in health care leadership from Brown University.
She worked as a front-line health care worker in a pediatric emergency department early in the COVID-19 pandemic. She wants to promote more leave opportunities for health care workers, both for health and hospice care of loved ones and to reduce burnout among physicians.
Baker will compete in three categories: personal interview, swimsuit, and evening gown.
Contestants in the Miss Maine for America Strong Pageant must be at least 18 years old, single, and a resident of Maine. The winner will receive a prize package and compete for the title of Miss for America Strong at the national pageant in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The annual Miss for America Strong pageant is part of the Mrs. America organization. The pageant focuses not only on poise and grace, but also on community involvement and volunteerism, according to Baker. For more information, see mrsamerica.com.
