I'm here to explain in a little more detail exactly how I was granted the honor of being crowned Miss Minnesota in a week. I've already described the differences between pageant systems in my blog Pageant 411: Miss America vs. Toddlers and Tiaras so you know I'm a queen for the National American Miss (NAM) pageant.
I've been competing with NAM since 2005, so that's 7 years for the mathematically challenged. Any other year I'd be blogging about how excited I am to compete and what I'm doing to prepare. However, this year I already know!
The Miss system in NAM is a little different than the typical Princess through Teen age divisions. At the state level, we have a different way of competing.
In April I sent in my application: resume, photo, and essay. I decided to follow one of the given prompts: How do you define true beauty? This was a natural choice for me since Amanda Moreno, the current National All-American Miss was Miss Georgia Teen in 2010 with me when she decided to start the True Beauty movement. Almost all of the 2010 teen queens took a picture with sashes, a white t-shirt, and NO makeup to show that although pageant girls love to get all dolled up with makeup, rhinestones, and super sassy and stylish outfits, we're also down to earth girls who are comfortable in our own skin. In my essay I was able to incorporate a little background of the movement along with my personal journey with NAM. I think I wrote the entire essay in 20 minutes because it flowed easily. When you're speaking from the heart, the words come easily.
I've been competing with NAM since 2005, so that's 7 years for the mathematically challenged. Any other year I'd be blogging about how excited I am to compete and what I'm doing to prepare. However, this year I already know!
The Miss system in NAM is a little different than the typical Princess through Teen age divisions. At the state level, we have a different way of competing.
In April I sent in my application: resume, photo, and essay. I decided to follow one of the given prompts: How do you define true beauty? This was a natural choice for me since Amanda Moreno, the current National All-American Miss was Miss Georgia Teen in 2010 with me when she decided to start the True Beauty movement. Almost all of the 2010 teen queens took a picture with sashes, a white t-shirt, and NO makeup to show that although pageant girls love to get all dolled up with makeup, rhinestones, and super sassy and stylish outfits, we're also down to earth girls who are comfortable in our own skin. In my essay I was able to incorporate a little background of the movement along with my personal journey with NAM. I think I wrote the entire essay in 20 minutes because it flowed easily. When you're speaking from the heart, the words come easily.
My True Beauty Movement photos
As if spilling my entire progression from a shy 6th grader to confident college aged leader wasn't enough, I also had an extensive phone interview. At the state level for interview each contestant gets one minute with each judge to answer a few questions. In competing for Miss, however, I got to know my interviewer a lot better as we spent almost 20 minutes talking on the phone. What's even better is that I did it all in yoga pants!
So then I waited....and waited. Patience is still a virtue I'm working on so it was very difficult to wait until mid May to find out the results. Early May I was getting pretty antsy to find out how I had placed. What made it even worse was soon all around Facebook I started seeing posts from other states that had found out! Patience I kept telling myself. Each text from pageant friends asking if I knew yet made me even more excited...and nervous.
Finally after I felt everyone from different states had found out, I got the call. You don't know how much a stomach can flip until you see "NAM NATIONALS" pop up on your cell caller ID. Our nationals representative told me I had gotten it! I was to be crowned Miss Minnesota for NAM at the end of July. SO EXCITING! I called my mom right away to share the good news.
So then I waited....and waited. Patience is still a virtue I'm working on so it was very difficult to wait until mid May to find out the results. Early May I was getting pretty antsy to find out how I had placed. What made it even worse was soon all around Facebook I started seeing posts from other states that had found out! Patience I kept telling myself. Each text from pageant friends asking if I knew yet made me even more excited...and nervous.
Finally after I felt everyone from different states had found out, I got the call. You don't know how much a stomach can flip until you see "NAM NATIONALS" pop up on your cell caller ID. Our nationals representative told me I had gotten it! I was to be crowned Miss Minnesota for NAM at the end of July. SO EXCITING! I called my mom right away to share the good news.
The long awaited e-mail
However, one thing I was confused about was that the representative asked me if I had gotten the e-mail from NAM already telling me. I hadn't. I would know because I had been checking my e-mail constantly for that exactly that news. I searched my e-mail later that day and in my junk mail I found the e-mail I had been dying to receive. In my junk mail! I quickly told my e-mail that nothing from NAM is junk. How unacceptable! What's even worse is that I looked at the date: 2 days previous. I could have known and saved myself all the nervous excitement of the previous days when all the other states had found out. I guess I can understand how "Congratulations, you're Miss Minnesota" could seem like a scam for anyone else, but I'm so incredibly blessed that in my life, it was just the news I was looking for.
So what's next? I officially get crowned by our current Miss queen, Jackie Bordes, after the teen formal wear competition at the Minnesota state pageant. It's just a week away! Then the real fun (and picture intensive blogs) starts. I'll be doing appearances and heading to Nationals in November to compete against the other state Miss queens for the title of National American Miss. *Happy dance*
RSS Feed