A Glimpse at my first year in pageants!

I have been meaning to publish this blog post for a while now, so... here it is:

A few days ago, I was honored to win the title of Miss Greater Jonesboro, a preliminary to the Miss Arkansas 2012 pageant.

The wining of my second title in the Miss America system has me reflecting upon my first year of involvement in the MA system which began Aug. 24, 2010.

I picked Aug. 24,2010 because it is a solid date that I can refer to, in truth, my journey towards my current involvement in the Miss America System began long before this point and when following a series of events can be traced all the way back to, well...my birth (and probably even before then)

(My pageant story is told in full on my website: www.wix.com/artisann010/miss-crowleys-ridge-2011)

But, I digress.

What happened August 24. 2010?

Well, on that lovely day, I competed in and won my first pageant. I became Miss Mississippi County Fair (yes, that's a mouthful) and from that day on, I have moved further and deeper into the world of pageantry and loved it more each step of the way.

So, rather than turn this past year into a novel length post, I will do a brief month by month recap of my first year in pageants.

August 2010

- I competed in and won the title of Miss Mississippi County Fair!

September 2010

- I competed in my first Miss Arkansas preliminary, Miss Northeast Arkansas and won 2nd Runner Up!

October 2010

- I competed in the Miss Arkansas State Fair pageant with over girls from all over the state of Arkansas.

side note: Met two future friends here (Latasha Briscoe and Kelsey Dow, I love both of you ladies!)

November 2010

- I competed in my second Miss Arkansas preliminary, Miss Lights of the Delta and won 3rd runner up.

December 2010

- I competed in my third Miss Arkansas preliminary, Miss Crowley's Ridge and was privileged to win the title!

So, without planning to, I competed in five pageants in five months!

After winning my title, the real work began:

PAPERWORK

APPEARANCES

FITTINGS

COACHING

FITNESS TRAINING

April 2011

- I was a guest performer at the Miss Greater Jonesboro Pageant

- I was a guest performer at the Miss Cotton Belle pageant

May 2011

- The Miss Arkansas Contestant Meeting!

July 2011

- Miss Arkansas' Outstanding Teen

MISS ARKANSAS!!!

- After many months of planning, working, saving, and spending, I had a fantastic time in my first Miss Arkansas week, July 10-16th. I met some wonderful people, including all 45 of the other contestants, learned a great deal, and truly enjoyed myself.

- At the end of the week, I walked away having developed new friendships, set new goals, and having been inspired by the people and the system I have the honor of participating in.

- At Miss Arkansas I competed (with group B) in:

Interview

Evening Gown

Talent

Swimsuit

Onstage Question

I won -

Alpha (or Newcomer) Talent

Overall Talent

Best Instrumentalist

and

Top 15

I still get emotional sometimes when I think about it. There is just no describing how thrilling it is to see your hard work pay off!

I could spend another entire blogpost saying thank you to all those whose assistance, encouragement, finances and expertise were lent to make this such a great experience for me, and I'm sure I will, but for now, thank you all sincerely, and I look forward to another great year in pageants!!!




God Bless,


Bethany