Last post from Miss Fulton County 2010

I cannot believe that this is my last post as your Miss Fulton County. This year has been an amazing journey and I have loved every single minute of it. Thank you, Fulton County, for accepting me and supporting me throughout the year! This has been truly incredible and I am sad to see it end. I cannot wait to see who is crowned tonight. I am sure they will be a wonderful representative of Fulton County! Best of luck to all of the participants tonight--you are all impressive! Again, thank you to everyone, especially the Miss Fulton County Board of Directors, for making this a truly special year for me!

Only One Week Remaining

I cannot believe that I only have one week left as Miss Fulton County. This year has flown by, and it has only been expedited by how busy I have been these past couple of weeks! This weekend was especially busy! Thursday was my 22nd birthday, but I did not have much time to celebrate with how busy I was! Thursday night, after classes and practice, I drove to Broadalbin because I had the mcats the next morning. After some last minute studying, I was able to at least get a decent amount of sleep. It was an early morning the next morning since I had to be at the testing center in plenty of time. I took the test from 8am until 1pm...it was a long, long day, but I feel calm after taking the test. I do not want to jinx anything, so I do not want to attempt to guess how I did! After getting ready my mom and I had to drive back to Elmira so that I could cheer at my senior game. Since I am the only senior on the team, it was necessary to make the drive. I did not realize until after, but that was the last game that I will cheer in my collegiate career! After the game ended around 10, my mom and I got ready to again drive to Broadalbin since the Miss Fulton County workshop was early the next morning. We did not arrive home until 2:30am! I had to finish a few things for the workshop, so after everything I was only able to get 3 hours of sleep. But it was an early morning as I had to be at the workshop by 7:30. Thankfully I was able to find enough energy to have a long day yesterday too!

The workshop ran from 8 until 5, and we were busy the entire time! The seven contestants learned the opening number, the finale, and the walking patterns for swim wear and evening wear. Each contestant also ran through their talent and had a mock interview to prepare them for saturday. I can honestly say that it is anyone's crown to win. I was impressed by how much they have grown in the past year, since I have competed with all except one previously. I believe that any of them would be a great representative for Fulton Canty.

I cannot believe that I only have one week remaining as Miss Fulton County. This year's pageant is going to be one to top! We have former Miss Fulton Counties returning for the show! The opening number is great! The stage is going to look beautiful! The board definitely outdid themselves this year! Miss New York, Claire Buffie will also be joining us and performing! This is going to be such a fun show and I cannot wait, even though I do not want it to end...Everyone should get their tickets and join us for the 40th anniversary of the Miss Fulton County Pageant!

Busy week!

This week is going to be a big week, and a very important week for me. There are four days until my 22nd birthday, there are five days until I take the MCAT and cheer at my senior game, and six days until the next Miss Fulton County Workshop! My MCAT scores have been improving with each full length practice exam I've taken, so I am not as worried as I used to be about the MCATs! I am still nervous, of course, but I am not deathly afraid of it any longer, yay!

I am very excited to see all of this year's contestants again. I know that they have been hard at work since the last workshop almost a month ago. It is so hard to believe that in two weeks, one of these contestants will be the next Miss Fulton County! And, I will be done with the MCATs, hopefully forever.

It is interesting that Miss Fulton County has helped to distinguish big chapters in my life. I first competed in the pageant in 2007, when I was finishing out my senior year and was excited about the big changes that were to come with entering into college life. Now, I am giving up my title when I am finishing out my senior year in college and am looking forward to seeing what life has in store for me from here.

I only have about an hour until my next MCAT study break, so it is time to sit back, relax, and not even think about them for a while =)

First workshop is done!

Hey everyone! The first Miss Fulton County workshop was today! It was so great! All seven contestants were there to do contracts, take their headshots for the program books, and do some mock interviews. All of the contestants are great and the judges are definitely going to have a tough time picking the winner! The constants also got to hear about what Aaron and I have worked on for production so far! I am so excited for this year's show! It is going to be such a fun year, and the music definitely showcases this!
As promised to the contestants, here is this year's music choices! Opening number: Telephone by Lady Gaga; swimsuit: Could it be You by H*wood; evening wear: Just the Way You Are by Bruno Mars; and for the finale: Move Like You Gonna Die. So what do you think? I'm very happy with our choices and the contestants seemed to be excited about it as well. I also have the walking patterns all set for the show. We also have some great talent that will be performing at the 40th anniversary show, including the current Miss New York, Claire Buffie! I will also be performing two dances at the show, which I am looking forward to. We have also invited all former Miss Fulton Counties to the show, and it sounds like the great majority of them will be able to make it!
I believe that is all of the Miss Fulton County news I have for now! Stay up-to-date with everything MFC by not only following this blog, but also by checking the Miss Fulton County website and the MFC Facebook page!

Merry Christmas!

>Hello everyone! It has been a while since I have blogged, so I figured Christmas Eve would be the perfect time. I am loving being home after a very successful first term. I finished out the term with a 3.931 GPA, bringing my overall GPA to a 3.67. I'd like to round that up to a 3.7, which is only 0.1 away my goal of 3.8! Now that I have finished studying for the term, the next few weeks are solely dedicated to studying for the MCATs, which I will take again January 28th. I have been taking a Kaplan course to help improve my score. I have been absolutely loving it, and I am actually beginning to understand concepts and subjects that had escaped me in the past. I am really hoping to improve my score and get at least a 30Q on the MCATs this time. I have a few more weeks to prepare and to hopefully meet this goal!

Getting back to Christmas...This is an amazing season, and a great time to remember that we are not the only people in this world. I found this great article that reminds us all that this season is an great time to help others. Click here to read it! Please take the time to read this article and take what it says to heart. As I have started whenever promoting my platform, you do not have to do a great project in order to make a difference; it is the little things that we do each day that make a difference to those around us. Offer to help that elderly lady struggling with her groceries. Check in on a neighbor that you know does not have a lot family to visit on the holidays. Help your neighbors clear off the snow. It is these little things that we take for granted that truly make a difference to those around us. Just the other day an elderly lady dropped her receipt, and I picked it up for her. I will not forget the look of sincere gratitude as she thanked me for doing such a small action. We should help those around us, and take the focus off of ourselves for once. Please take this message to heart, and apply it all of the time rather than just during the holiday season.

On another note, we are planning out this years pageant! YAY! I have started working on walking patterns, we are finishing picking out music, and I have started working on my dances! I am so excited! This year's pageant is going to be absolutely amazing, and everyone should come check it out if they can! Aaron is always amazing at planning out the pageant, and I am sure he will out-do himself this year! We have a great group of contestants, and any one of them would be a great representative for Fulton County. I cannot wait to see who I am crowning this year!

I know I said that I would post a picture of me in my crown with my SOAR class, but of course I left my USB cable in my dorm room...so that will have to wait until I return to Elmira January 10th.

I wish all of you a merry Christmas and a very happy new year!

Appearance Today!

I will be making an appearance for Mr. Kalweit's 4th grade classroom at Hendy Ave. Elementary, where I volunteer for the SOAR program. It is a surprise for the students, and I cannot wait to see how excited they become after seeing this different side of me!I will be at the classroom from 12:30 until 1:30; I will post pictures after the appearance!

Veterans Day and the past month

I cannot believe another month has already flown by! That means only a few more until I am no longer Miss Fulton County--it is so weird that this year is flying by so fast! It seems like I was crowned not too long ago! Now we're already planning this coming year's pageant! I am very excited about the upcoming pageant--we're working really hard on it, especially with it being the 40th anniversary of the Miss Fulton County Scholarship Organization. It is going to be an incredible show, and I am working on my dances to see if the ideas I have are actually going to work! Just too many ideas floating around up there sometimes.

This past month has been really busy for me. I volunteer every Thursday with the SOAR program, and it is so much fun! Alice and I get to help the children with their spelling words and their reading. Last week we even got to help with math a little bit! They are great to work with and their teacher is amazing; you can see that he truly cares about them learning and understanding the material he gives them. We've also been busy at practice. We have almost half of our nationals routine done! So exciting! The team is doing so well this year and I cannot wait to put the rest of the routine together! Tonight is a big night for the team because it is Hoops Hysteria at Elmira College. Hoops Hysteria is equivalent to a pep rally to kick off the start of the basketball season. The men's and women's basketball teams do short scrimmages against each other, Dance-line performs, and all three cheerleading teams (JV, Game, and Competition) perform routines. This is the first time many students will see us perform together as a team this year, so it has to be a perfect performance.

Aside from the school activities that I have been doing, I also found a day to go home and to make an appearance. Yes, a day; actually, less than 24 hours. Last weekend the city of Gloversville had a Veterans Day Parade, so since our practice for saturday was cancelled, I was able to drive home to attend. It was chilly, of course, but it was a great parade. A lot of people came out to watch it. I also rode with this year's contestants for Miss Fulton County. There are 8 young women competing for the title, and I was able to have some time with all of them. There are 6 veterans and 2 new contestants. It was great to see everyone that I knew again, but it was also nice to meet the new contestants that I did not know as well. Each one is a great candidate for Miss Fulton County, and I cannot wait to see the outcome of the pageant this year!

After the parade, I stopped into my old dance studio to say hi to my dance teacher, Sue Dygon, whom I have known for many years since she started teaching me when I was around 3 years old! It was great to catch up with her for a little while. During my visit, she told me that in a couple hours a dance instructor from Saratoga was coming to teach a traditional ballet course and that I should come back to take the class. I, of course, did since I miss taking dance classes all of the time. That dance instructor whipped me right into shape! I had not taken a formal dance class in 4 years, since I had graduated and gone to Elmira College. I did not realize how much I truly missed taking classes until I attended this class. It was great! We worked on technique A LOT, which I definitely needed. It was a lot of barre work and then we did across the floor work, but it was amazing. I hope that I am able to take the class again when I am home during breaks!

After the class, I was only home for a couple more hours since I had to drive back to Elmira that night. My team hosted the Elmira Fall Cheer Classic the next day, and I had to be there at 8:30am, so I did not feel like waking up super early to drive back. I hosted the cheer competition as Miss Fulton County, which was a lot of fun. A lot of younger girls attend this cheer competition, so they loved seeing me in my crown and were asking me many questions on how I became a "princess." It was very cute, and I loved it. The team also did an exhibition of our Hoops Hysteria routine, and my standing tuck was solid, which I was incredibly happy about. The only thing that was wrong with my parts of the performance was that my double did not make it all of the way around, which did not feel good. Hopefully that will not happen tonight! I like pretty doubles, not ones that do not make it!

Enough cheer-talk. I just wanted to say thank you to all of our Veterans for the service they have done for our country. Also, thank you to those that are currently serving. You do so much for our country. It is because of these people that we have the freedoms that we do. They have done so much for us. Please take the time to reach out and thank the Veterans, and those currently serving, for their work. To those currently serving, please come home safe!

Unfortunately, we had to cancel the Mr. Fulton County pageant due to lack of participation. We did not have enough contestants to make holding a pageant worthwhile. We loved the idea of this pageant, so hopefully it will be able to happen next year. We just need the participants for it actually to work.

I am not sure when my next appearance is. Maybe we will be able to have one while I am home for Thanksgiving Break in two weeks. I have to continue to study and to write papers right now. As always, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact me =)