Sylvia Pogorzelski was crowned Miss New Jersey USA 2005 on October 31, 2004 in Parsippany, NJ, taking on 98 women from across the state to win the title. In addition to winning an extensive prize package, Sylvia will compete in the 2005 MISS USA pageant to be held at the Hippodrome Theatre in Baltimore, MD, on April 11, 2005.

Sylvia grew up in Union, New Jersey with her parents Janusz & Irene Pogorzelski and brother Arthur who is five years younger. Since her parents are originally from Poland, her first language was polish when she was growing up. Her parents enrolled her into Polish school for 8 years so she would not forget how to speak polish growing up in America. After her freshman year at Union High School, her parents decided to move to East Hanover, New Jersey. She started attending Hanover Park High School in her sophomore year and graduated in 2003.

Sylvia has been dancing since she was 7 years old. She has done everything from ballet, tap, jazz, hip-hop, and gymnastics, but the one style of dance that she loves the most is ballroom and Latin dancing. She has been a ballroom and Latin dancer for about 6 years now and has traveled throughout the USA competing. She was encouraged to compete in ballroom dancing by her coach, Richard Grabowski, who coached her for 5 years. Sylvia was also part of the U.S. National Latin Formation Team Champions in 2003, also coached by Grabowski.

She got a chance to represent the U.S.A in Essen, Germany, in November 2003 for the IDSF World Latin Formation Championships. This was the first time the U.S.A formation team had went to a World Championship in the last 13 years. She then went off to New York City for a year to be coached by Jonathon Wilkins and Katusha Demidova who are the current U.S. Professional Standard Champions. However, she soon decided that she needed to make a choice between becoming a professional dancer and her education. She finally chose to dedicate herself to education over dancing.

Sylvia is currently attending Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey. She is going to school for a B.A. in Business Administration and a concentration in international studies. In the future she would like to have the opportunity to study abroad. She is currently working at Century 21 Pogo Realtors as a personal assistant to the broker, which is her father. She also went to school for her real estate license and now she is a licensed realtor in New Jersey. Although dancing is her greatest passion, she also enjoys going to the gym, Pilates, reading, playing piano, and spending time with her family and friends.

Sylvia credits her mother and father for being where she today in life. Without their encouragement and belief in her, she believes she would not be Miss New Jersey USA 2005. .