Post-Pageant Week Hiatis is Over!

Well hello!

I’m back from my week-long, post-pageant hiatus. I think every girl who has ever experienced Miss Iowa week can attest that a full week is needed to process that experience. Daily blogging during pageant week was a total fail so for that I apologize! Once festivities ended each night (usually around 11 which is LATE for me as many of you probably know) I hit the hay to rest up for the next full day. But I really would like to go back and talk about the activities we were involved in and of course the competition. That’s my goal for the next couple of weeks; I want to reflect on each day and the wonderful things that touched my heart. I'd also like to congratulate our new Miss Iowa, Aly! She is a wonderful person and will serve the state with enthusiasm for the organization and her platform.

As you can probably tell, I’m not Miss Iowa. In fact, I didn’t even make the top 10. While I was pretty surprised, I just wasn’t what they were looking for this year! That’s ok. On the bright side, I won the Miss America Organization’s Academic Achievement award and scholarship for the state of Iowa! Cool, huh? Also, I was selected as the top non-finalist talent winner and the recipient of the judges’ Applause Award (Basically, you did good… Keep at it). But really, I left the week behind with SO much than some pieces of paper and scholarship money.

Firstly, as a firm believer in God’s plan for my life, I feel that this whole experience has indeed brought me closer to Him. I leaned on God every single day for strength and wisdom. I know that He worked through me the entire week, whether it was brightening a sick child’s day at the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital, befriending a resident at an assisted living home who has recently lost her husband or positively impacting the other girls during our many conversations.

The second thing I left the week with was a better sense of purpose and an understanding of my strengths and what I have to offer - brightening people’s days and serving others.

Thirdly, I left with really great new friends. The bond that we developed during the week is so strong. Sure, many people know what we go through in terms of preparation and long days, but it’s indescribable to be with people who are in the EXACT same situation as you. And on top of that, we have similar goals and aspirations. Probably one of my favorite moments during the whole week was when a few girls and I were sticking our feet in the hot tub before supper, discussing current events, social issues and our individual platforms. It’s so amazing to spend time with people who are passionate about the same things as me!

Now let’s be honest… the best part of the week was when I got to see Seth during our visitation time after the first preliminary competition. He came all the way from Texas to spend a lot of time with my family, watch three nights of pageants and support me. I am extremely blessed to have such a caring and loving boyfriend (who is a TROOPER, I should add)!

Last Tuesday, we bought me a new car! My poor Mustang died on me on I-80… So sad. It’s probably for the best because I really do need an SUV to lug all of my stuff around! Seth and I spent the rest of the week in Martins Mill (East Texas, for those who have no idea where that is!) with his wonderful family. I’m back at school in Belton now to take my summer classes! I think this is exactly where I’m supposed to be.

On Saturday, I turn 21! We’re going to the Texas Rangers game… I’m so excited! I’m going to eat a hot dog or two.

Thank you everyone for support and encouragement always!

-Leah

 

 

Awards during the second night of preliminary competition

 

Opening number

 

All of the contestants after crowing on Saturday night

 

Miss Iowa: Day Two!

What a great day full of wonderful people and places!

In the morning, we packed meals for Kids Against Hunger to feed 3,000 people. I honestly don't know how we could have started the day in a better way! Service is a large, and in my opinion one of the most important values the Miss America Organization embodies. Not only did we feed many hungry children across the world, we had a BLAST doing it!!!

We went to the Senior Star retirement home for lunch and visiting with the residents. This was probably my favorite appearance so far. It was so fun to get to know my new friends Jean, Alice and Viola. They have some very impressive children and stories! Next we went to Ridgecrest which is an independent living home. I got to know a few more friends; one lady even has family in my neighborhood... Small world!

After an afternoon rehearsal, we went to Greatest Grains in downtown Davenport for a very yummy supper. Thanks Julie! Then we went to the River Bandits baseball game to throw out the first pitches (yes, we each got our own pitch!) and meet and sign autographs for fans. That always makes me feel pretty cool! I had so much fun; I love baseball games!

We had another late rehearsal which wrapped up the day! This morning we are off to Iowa City to visit children at the U of I Children's Hospital.

Best,

-Leah

Miss Iowa Week: Day One

And so it begins! I finally got connected to the Wi-Fi. Whew.

Yesterday was day one of a busy, amazing week. After moving into our hotel rooms, we went to the “Show us Your Shoes” opening event! That was a great way to greet each other and spend some time with our family and supporters before the craziness begins.

We had supper and a meeting with our personal assistants after the welcoming event. Those ladies can cook!!! I had a little bit of lasagna… No regrets. They are also the sweetest and kindest ladies you’ll ever meet.

After we ate we went down for rehearsal with Ken, the producer. He is hilarious! Thank goodness he is so entertaining or else those three hour, late night rehearsals wouldn’t be nearly as enjoyable. We learned our walking patterns for competition and the opening number. I would say it was a pretty productive evening!

I got late night workout in and CRASHED!

This morning we are packing meals for Kids Against Hunger. For lunch, we will go to Senior Star retirement home to visit with and perform for the residents. After that, we have another service project at Ridgecrest. We have an afternoon rehearsal, dinner, and then a BASEBALL GAME! I’m super excited about that, if you can’t tell. Sounds like a great day to me!

Here are some photos from yesterday!

Until tomorrow,

-Leah

 

All of the lovely contestants

 

With Nina, Miss Muscatine's Outstanding Teen and Serica, Miss Muscatine

Well, five more days! Some last thoughts and thank yous

Hi!

Five more days! Miss Iowa week kicks off on Sunday with the “Show Us Your Shoes” welcoming event. The contestants move into their respective hotel rooms that day and get right to work that evening with a rehearsal! For those who aren’t really sure about what festivities the contestants are involved in during the week, I will be giving daily updates on here! In a nutshell, rehearsals, appearances and community service in addition to the actual competition. We will compete in preliminary competitions on Thursday and Friday nights to determine the top 10 ladies who will move on to finals on Saturday night. Exciting stuff!

These last couple of weeks have been filled with final preparations, shopping trips, wardrobe sessions, alterations, workouts and planning. I have been so blessed to spend time with my favorite family from Newton! They probably don’t know it, but Gia and Zayne (the kiddos) have been huge stress-reducers. Hanging out with them puts what really matters into perspective, things that are easy to forget about when you get caught up in something like becoming Miss Iowa or what have you. At the end of the day, this is just a pageant. Only one person can have the title on the 14^th, but in my opinion, that doesn’t mean that any one person is better than anyone else. The Miss Iowa Class of 2014 is so unique, and each girl has something different to offer!

I’ve been so busy lately trying to get everything organized and ready for the week that I almost forgot that it’s time to relax! So that’s what I’m doing this week to rest up for the next. I’ve worked hard and prepared myself to the best of my ability. From here on out, I can relish in the peace that you get when you let God have complete control.

If you’ve ever been in a pageant before, you know that it’s a team effort. I have had the support of so many people throughout this journey, and I’m so thankful for that. My family; my best friends Kati and Abby; Deana; Alisha, Shae and Phyllis; my Executive Director, Ashley; Michelle and Jessica with Legacy Group Pageant Consulting; my boyfriend Seth who is too amazing for words… Seriously, pageant boyfriends are super under recognized. They are the ones that have to hear about the ups and downs and deal with girls who are trying to get “swimsuit ready” but just want a piece of chocolate cake. That must be horrible. Sorry on behalf of all pageant contestants!

Well I’m excited for all of the new experiences I’m going to endure next week. The hard part is over, and now it’s time to take it all in and be in the moment! Whatever happens, every single girl is awesome, and there will certainly be no "losers".

Check back Sunday night for an update on “day one” and some pictures from the first event!

-Leah

SWIMSUIT COMPETITION - Timeless or Outdated?

The best part about speaking to groups is answering questions at the end. Today I had some fun questions from the Pella Rotary group about the Affordable Care Act and the preparation that goes into a pageant. Additionally, I got a couple of not-so-fun questions about the swimsuit phase of the competition.

I wanted to blog about this because I think these are questions that will be raised throughout my travels as I educate groups on the Miss America Organization. The Rotarians wanted to know how the organization promotes positive body image when contestants have such high physical expectations.

The MAO purposefully encourages participants to live healthy lifestyles. Wellness is imperative for titleholders as they have demanding schedules. Ultimately, the question posed is this: Is a swimsuit necessary and appropriate to demonstrate contestants’ fitness levels? When I answered “no, probably not,” the whole room couldn’t agree with me more.

In 1921 the MAO was started by Atlantic City businessmen looking to lengthen the tourist season. It pretty much was a bathing suit/beauty contest. The pageant has evolved greatly over the past 90 years, giving participants an avenue to promote a platform, gain professional skills and serve their communities.

The swimsuit phase, some would say, is timeless and keeps the “tradition” of the program. Over the past week, I’ve noted people’s reactions when I tell them about the areas of competition. One person told me that the first thing that comes to mind when they think about Miss America is the ladies strutting around on stage in bikinis. Another apologized to me. A nice lady from Rotary told me that you can tell a person’s fitness level in an exercise-type outfit. In my opinion, the first thing that should be coming to mind when the Miss America Organization is mentioned is scholarship and service.

While I agree that an exercise outfit would demonstrate fitness levels just fine, I understand that that swimsuits come with the territory. Personally, the pros of the MAO significantly outweigh this con. I compete to earn scholarship money and gain a stature to promote my platform and serve the community, definitely not to model a swimsuit. My goal is to be recognized for having a healthy, strong and realistic body. Miss Iowa needs to be real and relatable.

Back in the Hawkeye State!

Greetings!

I feel like it’s time to do a little update on what’s going on now that school’s out and I’m free.

Last week my cool boyfriend and I road-tripped back to Iowa. I had WAY too much stuff to fit in a less than 50 pound suitcase, so a 16 hour drive was the only option! We drove through lots of rain but fortunately no tornadoes.

It was Seth’s first trip to Iowa, so we did it up big… Ate a yummy steak dinner, saw an I-Cubs game and went shopping. What else could you need? After I took him to the airport on Friday, my parents and I went to the grand opening of Warrior Run golf course in Norwalk. It was really neat! We had barbecue and listened to an awesome band. Mark Burke, the owner, has this really cool program called the G.I.V.E Foundation, an opportunity for veterans to learn and play golf.

On Saturday, we spent several hours at Temple in Des Moines preparing food for the Jewish Food Fair. It was a wonderful time of fellowship and cooking! We served the food on Sunday afternoon then went out to a late birthday dinner for my mom.

Today I did a little shopping for Miss Iowa week things. I’m exhausted. . . Shopping will wear you out, I tell ya!

Tomorrow I’m going to Pella, Iowa, to speak about my platform to Rotary. I’m really excited for this; I’m especially fortunate that I had such a wonderful Communicating in Business professor this past semester to help with my business writing and presentation skills. Many surely assume that the empowerment of women is a “women’s issue”. But it’s really not. That’s why it’s so wonderful to be speaking to male as well as female community leaders. Gender equality requires the responsibility of all individuals and society as a whole. At the end of my presentation, I will challenge the Rotary members to encourage and support women in their pursuit of leadership and in their career aspirations.

When I’m done, I get to go visit my favorite seamstress to begin alterations of my evening gown! It should be a fantastic day!

I’m looking forward to a shopping trip with my executive director, Ashley, and Miss Muscatine’s Outstanding Teen, Nina, this weekend!

This is such a wonderful season in my life, and I’m beyond blessed to be pursuing my goals in the Miss America Organization.

Have a great week,

Leah

 

Here's a photo of my dad and I chopping apples!

 

On to the Next!

Well, I’m a senior in college now! That’s weird. It feels like just yesterday I was a wee little freshman with no clue what was going on… It’s nice being an upperclassman! That feeling, you know, like you can just do anything in the world? I like it.

Now that my finals are over, I can refocus my energy to Miss Iowa preparation and graduate school investigating. And cleaning out my apartment, packing and moving. Yay!

This season has been a blessing in disguise. Running from one thing to the next, keeping up with nutrition and workouts all the while learning about marketing and communicating effectively (and maintaining sanity). I’m beyond prepared to take on the job of Miss Iowa. It’s fascinating how my studies directly correlate with the role of a titleholder.
 
Another thing that I really enjoy about the end of a school year is the get-togethers which usually take place over yummy food! On Saturday, the newspaper advisor, Ms. Kendig, had the staff over for supper, gifts and a little improv to celebrate the end of a successful semester. I can’t even think of the last time I laughed so hard! On Sunday evening, the Sader Belles had an end-of-the-year dinner. Being a part of the team with those girls was a huge blessing. Yesterday, the ladies from my work took me out to a yummy lunch at one of my favorite restaurants! Okay, I'm spoiled.

I’m excited for the 16 hour drive back home! That was a lie. Actually it won’t be too bad because my boyfriend/road trip partner is making it with me! I'm going to make an awesome road trip CD.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

 

-Leah

 

Here's a photo of the lovely 2014 Sader Belles after eating Mexican food!!