Her connection to the ocean is both personal and professional. Rachel Cushman has been diving for 16 of her 28 years. Her dad Steve Cushman was a career Seal Beach lifeguard, who passed away in July 2017. Rachel grew up around the Marine Safety Department, according to Marine Safety Chief Joe Bailey. He said he knew Rachel and her sister Shaena well.
The lifeguard’s daughter is now an assistant dive safety officer at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach.
Now the currents of her life are taking the scuba instructor and underwater model to Malaysia, where in mid-November the current Scuba Queen USA (she was crowned in May) will represent the United States in the three-week long Miss Scuba International beauty competition.
Rachel will be one of 14 contestants, according to the Miss Scuba International website. Rachel will be the only one representing the United States. The finals will be held Nov. 16
“I hope she does great,” Bailey said.
Chief Bailey said Rachel loved spending time with her dad on his boat. He said they spent weekends in Catalina and thinks that is where she picked up her love of marine biology.
“I think she’s just a talented young woman,” Bailey said.
Her inspirations included Jack Hanna and the late Steve Irwin.
“And ‘The Magic School Bus,” said her mother Lucy Cushman, referring to a cartoon series that was originally broadcast on PBS.
According to Rachel, she wrote book reports about Jacques Cousteau and scuba equipment when she was a child and “eagerly earned my open water diving certification on my 12th birthday.”
At Los Alamitos High School, she organized a short-lived scuba/snorkeling club. “It quickly died,” Rachel said, because no one else really shared her passion for diving and the ocean.
As Miss Teen Seal Beach, according to Rachel, she organized beach cleanups. The high school student participated in Seal Beach’s Junior Lifeguard program and, of course, in grunion runs.
Rachel had another interest: glamour. Miss Teen Seal Beach 2006 was her first beauty pageant. She described preparing for the pageant as a character building workshop.
When it came time for college, she attended California State University Long Beach, where she earned a bachelor of science degree in marine biology.
“As an intern for California Department of Fish and Wildlife I conducted over 544 hours of independent research on commercial passenger vessels, managed 30-100 anglers daily for proper data collection, with over 387 hours of lab work, which allowed me to improve sustainable fish handling protocols and data processing procedures for more accurate and effective classification and preservation of fish species,” according to information Rachel emailed to the Sun.
In 2015, she entered the Miss Seal Beach pageant and was named “Miss Photogenic.” That same year, according to her LinkedIn profile, Rachel Cushman became a sales assistant and model for SlipIns DiveSkins, which are body suits that help people put on wetsuits. “Putting on a wetsuit is its own workout,” Rachel said.
The following year, she became a scuba instructor in Seal Beach.
She gives audiences presentations on what she calls “performance diving.”
In May of this year, Rachel Cushman was crowned Scuba Queen USA in May 2019. Now she is preparing to compete in Miss Scuba International Competition.
“I wanted to compete for this because I think I’m the best representative for the scuba industry as a young woman who is still interested in glamour,” Rachel said.
“You know, scuba is not at all a glamorous sport,” she said.
According to Rachel, it is chilly, dirty and uncomfortable.
She believes the Miss Scuba International competition is the platform to help her accomplish her dream. “My purpose in life is to help audiences everywhere cultivate a relationship with the ocean and the life that lives in it,” Rachel said.
Her mother Lucy said, “In terms of ocean conservation, there’s more going on in other countries than here.” According to Lucy Cushman, there’s more going on in ocean conservation than Southern Californians realize. “It effects everything.”
Rachel is responsible for raising the money to make the competition. She has two sponsors, SlipIns DiveSkins and Dive N’ Surf. Lucy Cushman said the goal was to raise $4,000.
On Oct. 25, Rachel said she was about $1,000 from that goal.
For those concerned about where money they might contribute is going, Rachel said, “Follow my journey online on Facebook or on Instagram.”
Lucy Cushman said they live in Los Alamitos now, but Rachel referred to herself as a Seal Beach girl during the interview.
Rachel said she hopes to get as much support as she can for this part of her journey. She wants people “to see what a Seal Beach girl can do.”
https://www.gofundme.com/f/scuba-queen-usa-for-miss-scuba-international-2019.
