Her work lead her to begin volunteering with the Make-A-Wish Foundation — an advantage for her when she began competing in pageants when she was 18.

“I was in and out of pediatrics for three months over that time,” Cousino said about the time leading up to her misdiagnosis.

“Over that time I realized that there were children and families that weren’t as fortunate as me and that their diagnoses were true, where mine was a misdiagnosis.”

Cousino was president of the MSU chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the MSU Stars, from 2005 to 2008. She has helped raise more than $1.2 million in her time working with the foundation. She also worked with state legislators to have September declared Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.

Winning the contest for Cousino would be another way to spread awareness.

“That would be quite an accomplishment,” Cousino said of being in the magazine. “As the cover model for the magazine, it would give me a three- to four-page spread that would talk about my work with the MSU Stars and Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.”

Voting began on the magazine’s Web site, www.fourpointsmagazine.com, on June 6 and will continue through June 30.

The winner will be a model on the cover of the Fourpoints Magazine’s August issue, and will receive a photo spread throughout the inside pages.

In order to be chosen, contestants had to send in a basic entry form with a headshot, fivecandid photos and an essay about how they connect to the four points of the crown: success, style, service and scholarship.

Candidates had to be 13 to 24 years of age and have competed in a Miss America-affiliated pageant.

“We were looking for someone whose aesthetics looked good on the cover, but who also is interesting on the inside of the magazine,” said Julie Anne Wieland, editor of Fourpoints Magazine. “Melissa was a person who we thought was a perfect mix of those.”

Cousino was Miss Monroe County 2006, a top 10 finalist at the 2007 Miss Michigan Scholarship Program Pageant and is Miss Spirit of the State 2008. She will be competing again in the Miss Michigan competition June 18-21.

Monica Vanacker, a first-year osteopathic medicine graduate student and former vice president of MSU Stars, said Cousino made her role as vice president a lot easier.

“She’s very organized and takes care of everything that needs to be done,” Vanacker said.

“She is very easy to work with — I know if I’m really busy I can count on her. She is a very busy girl, but I’ve found the more busy she is — she just excels off it.”