To think that it was snowing the last time I blogged! I apologize for not updating you recently, but have so been enjoying the last few months of my year of service and have kept myself extremely busy. Time has been flying by and with it some very significant events! To write about everything that I have been doing would be impossible, but here as a brief update to catch you up!
We rounded off our Miss Washington Class of 2009 by crowning our last three local titleholders. Welcome to the family: Miss Tahoma - Cara Rudd, Miss Northwest - Tonie Duchemin, and Miss Liberty – Felicia Routson! We have 18 outstanding role models representing us this year and I am so excited to watch these young women utilize their titles to promote the causes they care so deeply about. The Miss Washington 2009 pageant is going to be an incredible show with so many talented young women to showcase, and I hope you will join us to support each of our contestants and help welcome Miss Washington 2009! Preliminary competition shows will be on July 9th, and 10th, with the pageant finale on July 11th. Ticket information is available at http://www.misswashington.org/.
Cara Rudd - Miss Tahoma
Tonie Duchemin - Miss Northwest
Felicia Routson - Miss Liberty
I cannot tell you how much time I have spent since Miss America promoting our state fundraiser, the Miracle Bowl for Kids! It is amazing how when you care so much about something and really put your heart into it, nothing about making it happen feels like ‘work.’ That was the experience I had with the Miracle Bowl for Kids and all the preparation involved. The event took place at Cascade Lanes of Renton Washington, and it was an incredible success. We raised over 25k to benefit Children’s Miracle Network and the Washington Scholarship Foundation and had a blast doing it! There are so many people to thank and I don’t think I could ever fully express my gratitude: Jeannie of Cascade Lanes, and the Cascade Lanes staff were wonderful hosts and without them the event would have been impossible; Sam Haskell, President of the Miss America Board of Directors, Keith and Carol Kruger, Mike and Peggy Miller, Patti Belik, Darrin Emerick, Carol Starcher, Kara Telgenhoff, Owen Tyack, Mitchell Andersen and the Andersen Family, my parents Ron and Myrna Harding, Bill Judd and the Renton Police Department, Gaard Swanson, Brad Brotherton of Brotherton Cadillac and all of our Brotherton Staff teams, Brian Taibl and KOMO AM, KVI AM, Star FM, and King FM for helping us promote the event, the Washington Scholarship Foundation, and all of our Miss Washington volunteers, family, and friends for your participation and support – I am forever grateful to each of you and so many more for helping create a fun, welcoming event to benefit a cause so dear to my heart. I want to especially thank our 18 contestants for really dedicating themselves to making this event a success and promoting it in their own communities. You ladies exemplified your ability to promote our national platform and to dive head first into a worthwhile project – congrats on your individual achievements and thank you for your help!
We recently finished Spring Forum, which was a time where all of the new class of Miss Washington contestants, their directors and families came together to prepare for the Miss Washington pageant. It was a weekend of motivational and informational workshops for the young women who will go on to compete for the job of Miss Washington 2009, as well as workshop sessions for directors and parents. With so many upbeat, service oriented individuals in the same place at the same time we just can’t help but have fun! The weekend was complete with a fiesta, sleepovers, a taco dinner and karaoke! We were proud to welcome Sam Haskell, President of the Miss America Board of Directors and Rick Brinkley, Miss America Judges Chairperson to our Spring Forum workshops, as well as many other presenters to help our contestants and pageant family receive a very well rounded orientation. I want to especially thank our host hotel, The Holiday Inn of Renton and staff for being such wonderful hosts and making our Spring Forum experience complete. Thank you so much to everyone who contributed to making Spring Forum weekend a success for our contestants. It is amazing to think that the next time all of these people will join together will be when we crown our new state representative!
The Renton Chamber of Commerce has been very supportive of the Miss Washington Scholarship Organization’s move to the Renton area. Over the past couple of months I have had the opportunity to work with chamber members on several occasions, and can only begin to express how thankful I am for their support and involvement. We are certainly blessed to have the City of Renton and the Chamber of Commerce on board with our cause! Having spent a great deal of time in Renton while promoting the Miracle Bowl for Kids and the MWSO’s move to Renton, I am beginning to truly feel at home in this great city! Visit the chamber website at http://www.gorenton.com/ to learn more about our host city!
With Councilman and Chamber member King Parker - what a guy!
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northwest Washington invited me to host their annual Bowl for Kids Sake fundraising event, and as usual, it was a blast! This two day event has been a tradition of mine for almost five years, and I was excited to share the role of emcee with my very special ‘little sister’ Deajannae! Having the opportunity to work with Big Brothers Big Sisters agencies around our state this year has been a real blessing. From fundraising events to political awareness opportunities, I really have learned a lot about how to make a positive impact on the lives of others through my experiences with this organization. It is overwhelming to think that promoting this organization was my main motivation for participating in the pageant, and from the local level to the national level, they have continuously gone above and beyond to support my goals this year as Miss Washington. I am so grateful to Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, and especially to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northwest Washington for all that they have done and continue to do to support our mission and better the lives of underprivileged children.
Recently I experienced what you might call ‘a dream come true’ and cannot help but share it with you. I have been playing piano since I was a child, but there was a time that I considered quitting. I loved the instrument and loved to play, but lost a little bit of the passion that I felt when I first started. During that time, I was introduced to composer named Jim Brickman, and because of his music fell in love with the piano all over again. Jim Brickman is an incredible musician. He writes music not to impress with difficultly, but to move and inspire emotions in people with feeling. When I had to choose a piece to play at Miss America, I knew that nothing would make the experience more complete than playing a piece by my favorite composer. Recently, Jim did a solo concert in Washington, and I had the opportunity to listen and watch him play live from the fifth row! I even had VIP passes to meet Jim after the concert! It was an incredible opportunity and I was thankful to share it with my dear friend Kara Telgenhoff, a huge Jim Brickman fan and the person who introduced me to his music several years ago.
My favorite composer and pianist - Jim Brickman
There is so much more to write about, but I’ll have to leave it here for today. I chose the title quote of this blog after reflecting on how much my year of service has really been a year of self-discovery. You can learn so much about yourself by serving others and stepping outside of your every day boundaries.. and I want to take a moment to applaud our 18 contestants for taking the steps to learn and grow as young women through their very own process of self-discovery. For those of you reading who are associated with a contestant, please think about how you can support and encourage your local representative during this time. These last few weeks before the Miss Washington pageant can be heavy for our contestants. They are working so hard to succeed and reach their goals and I cannot tell you how uplifting it is for them to hear your words of encouragement as they prepare for the experience of a lifetime! These young women have dedicated themselves to service in their communities and I appreciate their positive representation of our program around the state of Washington.. thank you to the Miss Washington Class of 2009!
