People’s Choice

At Contestant’s Day, the Miss Oklahoma Organization rolled out a scholarship fundraiser which could help your favorite contestant make it into the Top 11! With the 40th anniversary occurring this year, there will not be a Top 15, but there will be a Top 11 – with one contestant who has received the most votes making the cut.

This opportunity is in honor of our own Miss Oklahoma, Betty Thompson, who was selected as the People’s Choice during the Miss America pageant. All proceeds will also benefit the scholarship fund, providing additional scholarships for your Miss Oklahoma contestants!

Voting is live from now until June 7th at 6:00 PM. $1 = 1 VOTE!

To vote, visit Miss Oklahoma and click the “VOTE” button below the contestant you wish to vote for. You will be re-directed to a PayPal site where you can enter the dollar amount/number of votes for your contestant with a credit card. All votes are confidential.

Furthermore, you can enter as many “votes” (dollars) that you would like to donate at one time. For example, $20 = 20 votes. The quantity will always be listed as “1” but the amount of votes is determined by the dollar amount you enter in the “Donation amount” field.

Voting has begun! Let’s get going and put Miss Green Country in the Top 11!

VOTE HERE

(I am at the very bottom of the page…looks like this:)

Leigh Thompson Photography

Thank you to Leigh Thompson photography and my ever fabulous “uncle” Larry Chowning for helping make my Miss Oklahoma photos the best they could be. We had so much fun taking them – and I had help from many friends. On the day of my pictures, my mom had to leave early and my director was sick, but many people stopped in to say hello and spend time with us while we worked through the shoot.

Luckily, I made several friends including Miss Oklahoma 1978, Kendi Brown! She happened to be getting her hair done by Larry and sat in for a good portion of my photo shoot. She was a true joy to be around. Kendi told me about competing in Miss Oklahoma and Miss America – including having a full orchestra play her talent song while she tapped! I am excited to see her again in June – and the pictures and memorabilia from her days as Miss O in the former’s gallery!

These photos will be used in ad pages, the judge’s book, and in the program book. Thanks again Larry and Leigh!!

Forty-Five

Here are the contestants for Miss Oklahoma 2012!

Miss Green Country’s Alter Ego

Many are aware of Miss Green Country’s alter ego, but for those who are lost – she is a teacher. I have been teaching through Teach For America (a two year commitment) since early August, in a Tulsa head start on the east side of town. By day, I am just “Ms. Mills.” I am a pre-kindergarten teacher who works with colors, shapes, numbers, letters, writing, reading, social emotional skills, and everything in between. As a teacher, I also make sure the kids have brushed their teeth twice a day, lay out the mats, set up family style dining, clean up messes and sanitize every thing in sight with bleach water mixed daily. I break up fights, wipe snot from faces, and teach four year olds how to prepare for kindergarten and beyond.

Basically, my job is anything but glamorous.

As previously mentioned, my MTLD (manager of teacher leadership and development through TFA) is the current Miss New Mexico USA and has been so helpful in finding ways to implement my title into my classroom. At the beginning of October I decided to utilize my crown as an investment strategy. Several of my kids want to be “firemen,” “police girls,” “princesses,” or “karate kid” when they grow up, so I devised a plan…

Each month I am going to invite a minimum of 1 community leader to my classroom to pump them up about going to college. By introducing the idea of higher education now, my students are SO much more likely to see college as a big goal and an attainable one at that. Teach For America is highly focused on the idea that every child, regardless of where they were born or level of income, deserves an excellent education. This meaning that we are trying to close the achievement gap and propel our youth into a positive future filled with possibilities.

The first visitor? Well, Miss Green Country of course!

Finding a way to explain what “Miss Green Country” was to a group of four-year-olds was a bit tricky! I gathered them in our morning circle after going through our morning learning time and told them I had a big surprise. I explained that when Ms.  Mills is not at school, she is Miss Green Country. Basically, she is a princess in Oklahoma! (Cue every girls’ eyes totally falling out of their head – adorable!). Beyond that, Ms. Mills is a princess in Oklahoma, but she wants to grow up to be the queen of Oklahoma. Then, if she becomes the queen of Oklahoma, she can work hard and possibly become the queen of America!

By this point, I was honestly shocked at how captivated they were. I then asked what they thought Miss Green Country needed to do in order to become the queen of Oklahoma. First, I reminded them that, just like for them to go to Kindergarten, she has to know her letters, numbers, colors and shapes! She is also very helpful, nice to ALL her friends, and uses nice words. Somehow…it was working! We then did “Share the News,” part of each morning  where we partner up and take turns answering the question. I had the kids chat about what else Miss Green Country needed to do in order to become the queen! They loved this!

I passed around the crown and some used it as a steering wheel, while others knew exactly how to put it on! Needless to say…they were a little excited. Some were still a bit confused as to how their teacher was also a princess….but at the end of the day, we knew that each of us would have to work hard and get smart in order to go to Kindergarten OR become Miss Oklahoma!

Sparkles and Stars

A few weeks ago I competed at Miss Edmond Libertyfest. The ELF organization has a mentoring program much like the Oklahoma Stars. It is for local girls who wish to walk on-stage with contestants during evening gown and also attend a picnic before the pageant with their contestant. I didn’t know my two “stars” prior to the pageant – but  boy were they a hoot! So much personality in such precious, tiny little beings!!!

We had rehearsed what we intended to do – walk straight towards the audience, curtsy(they had never done a curtsy so this was super fun to practice!) and blow kisses to each other. These two had it DOWN! On the night of the competition I walked out from the middle of the stage and stopped for the two sisters to join me. The oldest took my left hand while the smaller one stood there staring at me. I took her hand in my right hand and guided her to my right side. We paused to look at the audience (I like to do this since they really don’t get a lot of time on-stage!) and I felt something on my side.

Confused, I looked down to see the littlest star touching my dress with her free hand! Immediately, the audience and myself, began laughing hysterically as she drug her hand down my dress in bewilderment. Her eyes were locked and her sweet little mouth was hanging open. After she was done touching all the stones to see what they felt like, she looked behind me to make sure the back had the same thing!

We walked forward, did our curtsy and blew kisses. I watched the girls walk off stage – and of course the tiny star had her hands on her waist while she gave a sassy, hip-throwing walk off-stage. I couldn’t even keep a straight face! Hopefully my students will have just as much personality! Luckily, Leigh was at Miss ELF to capture it all on film – thanks for the great pics Leigh!!!