New Site!

Hey everyone!

I have a brand new site under construction! From there I will update you on everything that's been going on! Please keep checking my blog so I can let you know when we're up and running!

God Bless!

Hello from Hoopeston

Hello from Hoopeston everyone! I have wireless! Amazing I know. So, we got here Monday night and met everyone at McDonald's and then moved on to the country club to have dinner all together as a group, sponsored by Miss Hoopeston and her family. We were welcomed with our state sashes, which is fantastic, because I am Miss Ohio all week!
I'm lucky enough to be rooming with my friends Virginia, Shannon Beam, who I think is my long lost twin, and my other great friend Miss Colorado, Morgan Weaver, who I spent last year with at Sweetheart. We have had so much fun together so far and our host home is more than amazing! I'm about to go tanning....in the basement, AWESOME! They are a great family and they rock! The only downfall is that we stayed up talking pretty late on the first night, and I didn't sleep at all even after we went to bed, so Day 2 felt VERY long!
Yesterday we toured a local farm and drove giant tractors and we toured Hoopeston foods (the bean factory) which is my favorite day, because I love going to the farm. (and taking pictures in the corn...to be posted later!). We also had lots of rehearsal at the Civic Center.
Today we toured ConAgra foods (the Pam cooking spray factory) and rehearsed some more, then moved on to a cookout/ ice cream social.
Tonight when we got home from our day, we received a really special gift from Shannon. A tradition in Maryland and Virginia, is to take a glass corn cob, mine is named Cornelius Cobb, and take pictures with it all week to give to the next Miss 'State' Sweetheart so she knows what Sweetheart is like. So Colorado and Ohio will also be starting the tradition! I'll post some pictures as I get home!
Tomorrow we start interviews, so I'm going to get some rest. Wish me luck and say a prayer in the morning!
Becky

Community Service Day/ Bowl-a-Thon 2009!

Saturday was Community Service Day and Bowl-A-Thon, 2009 and as always, it was a blast! I was again assigned to visit Primrose Retirement Community, a sponsor of Miss Ohio and the wonderful donor of Miss Ohio's residence for her year of service, along with Heather Waterman, Sasha Eby, and Kylie Johnson. We served lunch to the residents and performed for them; I sang two of my favorites, Gershwin's "Summertime" and last years talent song, "Gold". We then had the opportunity to visit with the residents and I finally was able to see some of my good friends again! We had a bit of extra time before the Bowl-A-Thon began so we also got to visit and ride the Carousel before going back to the United Way. A special thanks to Amiee and Kathy of the United Way of Richland County for setting up our locations and for all their hard work for making a great community service day and to Mayor Culliver for coming to speak to us.

After community service, we headed to Park Lanes for the Bowl-A-Thon, which was also a great time! My bowling team was Kristen Haas, my Dad, and Nik, and we were not very good, but still had fun! Mom was lucky and won the 50/50 raffle and Nik and I both won prizes too, which was exciting! It was really nice to visit with the other contestants since our time at 4-H Camp Ohio and we are all excited with less than 4 weeks to go until Miss Ohio Week begins!

I'll keep you updated on my final weeks before Miss Ohio, and throughout Miss Ohio Week!

God Bless!

"Discovering You!"© Grant

This past February, I applied for a grant for my program "Discovering You!"© through an organization called Youth In Philanthropy Encouraging Excellence or YIPEE! As stated on their website -YIPEE is a program for high school juniors and seniors, who are graduates of Youth Leadership Toledo, where among other things, they learn about community needs and the elements of thoughtful giving. The goal is to build a foundation for a lifelong commitment to leadership, volunteerism and philanthropy. Students meet twice a month from August to May to identify problems facing youth in the community, raise money to award in grants through donations and fundraisers, review grants designed to solve the issues, and allocate money to not-for-profit organizations offering solutions" - http://www.leadershiptoledo.org/yipee.shtml So the young adults involved in YIPEE had a vested interest in each of the recipients of the grants, because of their involvement in both raising and allocating the funds.

On May 7th, Jill Nehrig of the University YMCA and I accepted a YIPEE grant to support my program "Discovering YOU!"©. I was honored and thrilled to receive the recognition and support from this group of young people, knowing the funds will go towards continuing my program through the YMCA after school programs.

A very special thank you to all those who helped me develop and implement "Discovering YOU!© and to the YIPEE students who raised and awarded our grant. I'm grateful that my program will continue forward and touch the lives of more youth in Northwest Ohio.

Padrone's Fundraiser

Thank you to Padrone's Pizza on Central Avenue for hosting my fundraiser last weekend! We had a full lunch buffet of pizza, bread sticks, chicken pasta, salad, veggies and amazing home made mashed potatoes!

I leave for Miss Ohio June 11th and will begin competition with interview on June 15th or 16th and on stage competition will be June 17-19th. Finals and the crowning of our new Miss Ohio and representative at Miss America will be June 20th!

Thank you to everyone who came to support me on my journey to Miss America!

God Bless!

BGSU Dance Marathon

This weekend, Bowling Green State University held a Dance Marathon, a giant fundraiser benefiting Children's Miracle Network and our local CMN hospital, St. Vincent Mercy Children's Hospital. Dance Marathon is a weekend long event at BGSU (and a number of other College campuses nationwide throughout the year) where hundreds of college students volunteer to stay on their feet for 33 straight hours, or more 'For the Kids'! There are plenty of activities and lots of entertainment for the students, but you won't find a chair around! BGSU also hosts a number of 'miracle families', or families that have had children treated or being treated at a CMN hospital. The families and children spend time dancing, playing,and visiting with the students, and each family is paired with a team of students and get to know one another throughout the weekend. There is also an exciting part of the event called Bike for Tikes where a number of students are dropped off in Cincinnati, OH to bike over 165 miles back to BGSU in one weekend, riding 5-6 hours a day to help raise money for CMN. This year I was asked to speak at Dance Marathon about Miss America and our partnership with Children's Miracle Network and I finished by singing "Gold". After I spoke at the main event, I went to visit the families at lunch and in the designated 'family room' where I heard some great stories and made some new friends. I met one lovely mother of three, the youngest being treated for autism at our CMN hospital, who told me about growing up watching Miss America. She said every year, she and her siblings would get new PJ's and go to their grandmother's house to watch Miss America, where they ate snacks and each kept an individual score card until the new Miss America was crowned. She still loves watching Miss America and was a big fan of "Miss America: Countdown to the Crown" this year!

Not only was Dance Marathon a great time for everyone, but they surpassed last year's success by raising over $126,000 for St. Vincent Mercy Children's Hospital!

Congrats To BGSU DM, all of the volunteers, participants, and families!

National Pancake Day at IHOP

Today was National Pancake Day at IHOP to celebrate Mardi Gras and raise money for the Children's Miracle Network. I was at the Airport Highway location and walked around to each table to collect donations in return for CMN Balloons , and collected around 60 balloons! IHOP was also graced with the presence of my friend Abby Bollenbacher, a former contestant and a friend of mine who came out to support CMN and eat short stacks with her friend Jeff. They joined my parents and I for a cup of coffee and some photos. The staff was so friendly despite the hectic day and made time for photos and some laughs! They even came out with a portable griddle for me to flip my own pancakes, however it didn't heat up and my cakes melted into a giant Mickey Mouse before they cooked through! I also met one of the Directors from IHOP Corporate, Lee, who was there for extra help today!

Although my cakes didn't flip, I had a blast being part of National Pancake Day along with Miss Ohio, Karissa Martin, who flipped in Cleveland today and Miss America, Katie Stam, who was flipping in LA!