Day One of Miss Iowa Week

        To kick off Miss Iowa week all of the Miss and Outstanding Teen contestants, including myself, took part in a event organized by the Miss Iowa Scholarship Program called The Red Event. In this event we all wore black, red, or white dresses and our favorite shoes to walk the red carpet with. All of the contestants looked wonderful. To the right is a picture of all of us teen contestants with Mariah Carey, Miss Iowa, and Savanah Necker, Miss Iowa's Outstanding Teen who spoke to the crowd later in the event. We also had another speaker, Dave "The Shef" Sheffman, who gave an encouraging and motivational presentation.

        My favorite part of the event was getting the donations from Ulta. Thanks to the fabulous Mark Becker, Ulta gave all of the contestants thousands of dollars worth of beauty products and I've honestly used half of them just in the past two days. 
        After the event we rehearsed for the competition nights and learned our Opening Number dance in just one night. I'm so excited to perform it on the stage and I can't wait to hear what everybody thinks. It's going to be amazing.

Here it Comes!

Today the Muscatine Board, Isabella (Miss Muscatine), and myself went to the Miss Iowa Orientation. I had so much fun not only catching up with my amazing Miss, but also meeting some of the other Miss and Teen contestants.

Today was just a reminder to me that if you put your mind to something, and with help from God, you can do anything you what to do. Three years ago I was at my very first Miss Iowa orientation and I honestly had no idea what I was doing. I remember looking around at all of the girls and thinking to myself, I won't be able to come out of this with a crown on my head. Three years later I am sitting on my couch, eating veggie sticks, reading current events, watching the older Miss America competitions, and preparing mentally for the even deeper preparation that is about to come.

All I can really say is that good things come to those who wait and third times a charm!

Busy Bee!

Wow is the first word that comes to my mind when reflecting back on the first weeks of this month. It's been a busy, yet fun ride promoting my platform in Muscatine.

I had hosted an essay contest with the Muscatine Journal over why music is important to students and the schools. All of the children who submitted have not only shown the community how important music is, but they have shown me that I am truly passionate and grateful to have this platform and to be working with businesses around Muscatine to promote it. I would like to congratulate the winners on their essays and thank them for participating in my contest.  I would also like to thank the Muscatine Journal Advertising Department for their support, especially Jaime Weikert who jumped right on board as soon as I pitched my idea to her.

This morning I appeared at the local radio station to have an interview with Tony Tone about my platform and what it is like to be Miss Muscatine's Outstanding Teen. I had an amazing experience sharing my love of my platform, as well as singing "I Knew You Were Trouble" by Taylor Swift.

Thank you all for your amazing support on my journey as Miss Muscatine's Outstanding Teen!