"Desire is the key to motivation, but it's determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal-a commitment to excellence-that will enable to you to attain the success you seek."
-Mario Andretti
Today, I realized that in just five short weeks I will have started preliminary competitions for Miss New Jersey. Five weeks? That's 35 days. I have 35 days to prepare myself mentally and physically for the experience of a lifetime. Time sure flies when you're having fun! Here are a few of the fun events I took part in the last month...
On April 7th my sorority hosted a philanthropy event to support JDRF called "Twist-off!" We hosted students from across campus in a messy Twister tournament. Twister boards covered the intramural fields, and paint covered the boards. Things got extremely messy, but it was for a great cause. I had the pleasure of working a table with my Big, Katie! We watched the fun and helped the messy participants clean off enough to snack on chips and salsa provided by Moe's Southwest Grill!
Katie won the "Sister of the Year" award for our chapter of
Alpha Gamma Delta at High Point! Proud little :)
In between classes, gym time, studying, Panhallenic meetings, chapter meetings, more studying, and a little bit of sleep, I managed to complete my "University Ambassador" training. This included becoming "Golf Cart Certified". I am proud to say that if you ever come to High Point University for a campus tour I am able to wheel you around campus in style! No guarantees that I won't take a curb or two, but I promise you a fun and informative outing! I also took part in "Greeks Got Talent" to represent my sorority! I was on a team of several girls who worked hard to choreograph and perform a dance for the show. It felt great to dance again with a team and I loved bonding with some of my sisters during the countless hours of rehearsal!
In the midst of finals, I flew home for Miss New Jersey orientation! While I had several traveling difficulties, I am so lucky to have a caring and selfless father. After too many delays, I was stuck in Washington, DC having missed my connecting flight, but my Dad drove all the way to pick me up! Though the trip wasn't what I expected, it was nice to have some quality car time with my Dad...and I had just enough time to catch a few hours of shut-eye before Saturday morning's orientation! I met with the other "Shore girls" and some shore directors for breakfast to start our day. It was so nice to see everyone again!
One especially exciting aspect of this year's orientation was meeting Denise from Posh Boutique, who is sponsoring the contestants' swimsuits and opening number dresses! We all chose our swimsuit style after watching our beautiful Miss New Jersey, Lindsey Petrosh, model them. She still rocks the stage! It's such a blessing to have generous sponsors helping out us Jersey girls. I can't wait for my very own Posh swimsuit to arrive!
Overall, orientation made me extremely excited for Miss New Jersey week! I loved getting to know the girls I'd never met, and of course catching up with girls I knew before. We're going to have so much fun in June :)
Miss Gloucester Country, Kelcie, and I wore the same dress. Who knows-
maybe we'll have a few twin moments during Miss NJ :)
After flying back to school to finish my finals, my freshman year of college was complete! Having no schoolwork or studying to do sure makes being a titleholder easier :) I've been a busy bee since being home on summer break! I joined my Crowns for a Cause friends to help the Lauren Rose Albert Foundation with their annual "Mothers Matter" project. The project collects toiletries, make-up, hair supplies, jewelry, and more to donate to women who need a little pick-me-up on Mother's Day. We helped sort, unwrap, clean, and organize all sorts of products and even got to make our own gift baskets! This is the fifth time I've helped the foundation, and each year it gets bigger and better! I can't wait to see what the future has in store.
Pictured in the top photo is Susan Rose with the Crowns for a Cause participants. She is such an inspirational woman who has given so much of her life to this worthwhile cause. I loved helping her out and designing my own lavender-themed gift basket!
I was also able to work with Crowns for a Cause at a community event entitled, "Bark in the Park." I helped work our table and even entered my pup, Zoey, in the puppy parade! While Zoey can be quite the diva, she loved meeting new people and even won a trophy!!
This K-9 officer put on a great show!
I don't think Zoey will join the force any time soon...
Kelcie and my new friends :)
I recited the Pledge of Allegiance before the puppy awards ceremony!
The girls and I sold doggy blankets and dog-themed books to
benefit "Paws for a Cause!"
Another benefit to being home for the summer is being able to spend time with my awesome "Little Stars." I went to Tricia Sloan Dance Center's Company Showcase to see my girlies light up the stage! Being a graduate of TSCD, I had a blast seeing friendly, familiar faces, and spending quality time with Brooke and Olivia.
These two were amazing!
(Shout out to Olivia for turning 10 this week:)
I'm extremely excited and honored to be starting my internship at the Volunteer Center of South Jersey this week. With that wonderful opportunity and more pageant preparation, I'll be super busy for quite some time! With each day I challenge myself more to get in swimsuit shape! With the help of Miss Julie and her fun workouts, I'm really enjoying it! Until my next blog, you can keep up with my platform and pageant endeavors by visiting my website: www.KeepCalmAndVolunteerOn.Org, or following me on twitter: @KCandVO. Thanks for reading and take care! :)
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