The Final Weekend

This past weekend was the Miss California Teen Achieve 2011 Pageant. I arrived at Embassy suites on Friday afternoon, after getting my hair and makeup done, and helped my parents unpack for the weekend. There was the coronation “Crowns and Gowns” dinner at 7 pm that night, and I had to look my best for all of the contestants that I was going to meet. When 7 pm finally came around, I went downstairs to the ballroom where the dinner was going to be held and I introduced myself to the few contestants that were able to make it. There were also a few visiting queens so I made sure to introduce myself to them as well. During dinner, Marlene my director let Mrs. California, one of the visiting queens, introduce herself and explain to the girls about how much a job it truly is to win a pageant and that its not always about the glamour and beauty, its about the dedication to the community and the 365 days of community service after. It’s about service, not you. Her speech was truly inspirational and I was so thankful I got to hear it. After the speech Kelinda (Miss California Junior Teen Achieve) and I crowned the contestants that were present at the dinner with their delegate crowns. It was so sweet to see the looks of joy and amazement as the girls felt the idea of being royal for the first time. The next day, Saturday, was the lunch with the queen. A few more contestants arrived and we all ate lunch in a beautiful section of the hotel restaurant. My mom laid out all my photo albums, all 5 of them, and the girls were able to look through them and see all of the events that I had done throughout my year. The girls that were there were Lynnette, Looloo, Lila, Samantha, Julie, Elaine, and Lynnette’s friend Alexis. Because there were so many contestants there, along with their mothers, I went ahead and gave my “How to Get Events” presentation to the girls and showed them how even with their delegate crowns and sashes they can still do events and be queens in their local community. It was important for me to show them that they could still do events even if they didn’t win the Miss California Teen Achieve title, because they still have a title and a desire to make a change-and that’s truly all you need. Later on, Marlene told the girls that three of the judges were at the hotel and that they were allowing for early interviews. All of the contestants except for Samantha decided to go ahead and get the interviews out of the way, which I thought was a good idea. After the interviews, I told them all I was having a “Movie Night” at my room if they wanted to come and hang out with me and the few that were staying at the hotel, Lynnette, Alexis, Lila and Taylor were able to come and hang with me. We watched Confessions of a Shopaholic, and stuffed our faces with junk food.  I love girl’s nights! The next morning, was the real pageant day. We started out with a queen’s breakfast and all the contestants (Miss, Junior Teen, and Teen) came to eat with us. Marlene made announcements throughout the breakfast about the events of the day and had me and Miss American Teen Achieve Anna Suzette help pass out the sashes and crowns for the girls that hadn’t made it on Friday or Saturday and also the pins that would be able to go on their sashes. The pins were for things like community service, GPA, making honor roll, and other achievements. It was such an honor to be able to award these ladies with what they deserved for all the hard work they have done in their life. After the breakfast, I quickly ran upstairs to change and get ready for the opening number rehearsal. There wasn’t an opening number during my pageant so I was really excited to be able to have a cute little top number for the judges and audience. It was to the song “Forget You” by Cee Lo Green and between laughing like crazy, and trying not to run into each other-the dance was really fun! But then Marlene came in and announced that interviews were starting and all of the girls put on their professional faces and got ready to be interviewed. I remember how it felt to get ready for interviews when I was in the pageant. It was nerve-racking but since I am completely comfortable in talking to people I didn’t mind it that much. I spent the majority of my day with the girls, getting ready for the different parts of the pageant and talking to people that asked questions. This would be the last time I could wear my crown and I truly wanted to work it. I have to admit, however, that I did shed quite a few tears when they played my slideshow and video from the El Cajon Chamber of Commerce. It was such a heart string tugger facing the reality that my reign was over and I would no longer be queen.  Especially when I said my farewell speech, it made me realize just how truly lucky and honoring it was for me to have been crowned the Miss California Teen Achieve title and how many great lessons it has taught me for my life. I will never forget my year as queen and I know that it will always be the most life changing event for me. I wish the new queens, LooLoo, Lila and Julie amazing luck in their reign and I hope it changes their lives for the better as it did me.

Thank you to all the people that actually read my blog, I really appreciate you taking the time out of your day to read it and it means a lot to me. I will miss it greatly but I am excited for the next chapter in my life. So farewell California!