Miss Oklahoma 2012 Contestant Groupings

Here is the line-up for Miss Oklahoma 2012!

Contestant’s Day

I’m now sure how time flies faster with each year, but Contestant’s Day has already come and gone! Yesterday, we gathered every Miss and Teen contestant, their local directors and volunteers, and several family members at Jenks Performing Arts Center.

I was SO thrilled to drive a short five minutes to something Miss Oklahoma related, since normally we are Tulsa bound from Shawnee at 6 am!!! We turned in our ad sales information and the talent run-throughs began. Though I had taken allergy medicine, drank a tall glass of green tea and used a neti-pot for the first time, seasonal allergies were giving me a run for my money! Fortunately, I made it through and was happy with how I performed. In fact, it makes me anticipate singing on the Miss Oklahoma stage that much more! This year, I will be singing “Come Rain or Come Shine.”

Watching talent rehearsals reminded me of the amazing talent our contestants possess. Makes me glad I am not a judge!!! After talent rehearsal, we spent some time dancing around with Kent – the nation’s best choreographer (I’m not biased or anything…), and working on a bit of modeling. The show this year is going to be unbelievable! Kent said it currently stands at about sixteen minutes, with contestants performing back up to SEVERAL former Miss O’s dancing and singing. How he tops himself every year, I will never know!

Mignon spoke with us (I have always loved Mignon – what a role model!), about the job of Miss Oklahoma in great detail and what qualities Miss Oklahoma 2012 should possess. She greatly emphasized “committed to educational goals,” which is such an important aspect of Miss Oklahoma, being a scholarship organization, and a mentor for students.

Once we had learned the chorus of our opening number, we gathered with our pageant families to hear from Betty and watch her interview from Miss America. I think it’s quite obvious that her interview was nothing short of fantastic. Betty has done an excellent job as Miss Oklahoma, and it is apparent by the way the board speaks of her as well. They told of her incredible work ethic and how she has never been late. Betty also gave each contestant a gift – a light up (LED) lip gloss with a mirror from Artistry by Amway, a Miss America sponsor! It is seriously super cool. She attached a wonderful poem reading, “If your lips would keep from slips, Five things observe with care; To whom you speak, of whom you speak, And how, and when and where.” She explained how important it is as Miss Oklahoma to always “be” Miss Oklahoma, regardless of how bad your day is going, because someone is looking up to you.

After watching Betty’s interview, we drew for placement! I am very excited to be in the MU group! My schedule will be:

Monday AM: Interview

Tuesday: Swimsuit

Wednesday: Talent

Thursday: OSQ/Evening Gown

The judges were revealed and HOO BOY – what an amazing panel! They are a fascinating group, which I would like to interview, though I will be interviewed by them! Miss Oklahoma has selected an extremely well-rounded panel with entrepreneurs, philanthropists, high achievers, and names with national recognition. We even have an NBA basketball player, a former Miss Oklahoma and a former Miss AMERICA!

Contestant’s Day is special for many reasons, but most of all I love getting to visit with the extended members of the “pageant family.” Those who I have known since the teen system, former directors, contestants, and many who have judged me in past competitions. Much like other families who are separated by distance, it takes a pretty big deal to get us all in the same room together – but when we are, it is just  the most enjoyable day ever! Thank you to everyone who has sent such kind words my way with feedback about talent and more. Here’s looking to June!

Little Miss Fall Festival

Friday night was the Little Miss Fall Festival pageant! I was honored to be asked to judge 13 Kindergarten and 1st grade girls vying for the title. What do I know about 5-7 year olds? Well…a surprising amount! I taught 1st grade this summer in Phoenix (and absolutely LOVED it!), and now teach Pre-K in Tulsa. Little ones are so fun because every day is a new day – new personalities, new interests, and new, unbelievably funny words and sayings. Miss Riverwalk’s former director, Nicole, also asked another TFA friend and YWCA employee to judge – what a small world!

Kevin met me in Coweta, which is about a 35 minute drive from my apartment, where the skies were a hazy shade of grey and a Fall chill was beginning to set in the air. Initially, the pageant was intended to be held outside, but after a wild downpour, was moved to a local church. It was so cold that I can’t imagine keeping the girls outside in their beautiful dresses – would have been tough!! On the way to the church, Damaris and I huddled under an umbrella, but still wound up soaking wet. What seemed like the entire town was waiting outside the church because it was still locked – priceless! Haha, we looked faaaabulous..

 

Damaris was the emcee and it was wonderful to catch up with the newly crowned Miss Oklahoma State Fair. After making our way into the church and drying off, the pageant was on! Each contestant first competed in modeling – wearing their gowns. They were SO adorable! After each was finished, they took a seat on the stage behind the other contestants. Once modeling was complete, we moved to talent.

Honestly, some of their talents were better than mine! The winner was a gymnast, another precious angel sang a country song with more attitude and personality than I have ever seen before, and there was even a magic show! There were several singers, a few dancers, and also a guitarist. The last portion was interview – where Damaris asked the girls a few questions about their interests or hobbies. One ate a whole pound of fudge before her mother caught her!

During awards, I was so pleased to see each girl receive something for her hard work and bravery to even just get on the stage. The winner was the cute gymnast in a fun, pink gown! I had so much fun and would love to do it again. After the pageant, I chatted with several girls – those who won and those who did not place, telling them what I loved about their performances. It’s hard to not win at any age, particularly when you may be too young to see the big picture. These girls ALL have a shot at Miss Oklahoma someday – and I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if Miss Oklahoma 2023 was on that stage Friday night!

Contestant’s Day

What a weekend! I’m still recovering from the combination of my 8 hour class Friday, driving to Shawnee late that night, sleeping napping for three hours, and waking up at 5 am to pack up and head to Tulsa.  I was in the early group (lucky me!), and danced fifth. In terms of my talent, it’s not where I want it to be at Miss Oklahoma, but I’m pleased with the improvement I’ve made over the past few months. I received several compliments and even my mom said the quality of the dance was much more entertaining compared to my previous performances. Over the next two months, I’ll be tweaking my dance and pushing myself to perform the best that I possibly can. Here’s a clip of my song:

After talent, we had a short meeting with Kent and then lunch. It was great to sit with a few old friends and meet new girls at lunch, since we didn’t have any other down time to chat! Kent did announce the theme: “On the Line.” He wants us to focus on bringing everything we have to Miss O and putting it all on the line. Our opening number dresses have great movement to them (example below). He described the stage which sounds fantastic, especially for swimsuit. I won’t give any more away, but think Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show! (If only we got to wear huge wings!!!)

After lunch we had time with Kent to learn a part of the opening number dance, but we also had walking lessons! Kent moves so well. Seriously – far better than ANY of us could ever hope to walk. He is always pushing us to get out of our comfort zone, be more natural and increase the sex appeal. When you are 5’2″, blonde, and often mistaken for a high school senior – sexy is the last thing which comes to mind! Looks like someone will have to practice being sexy for the next two months….

Later, Jack and Mignon spoke with us about the duties of Miss Oklahoma, what to expect, and what the judges will be looking to crown. The Miss Oklahoma Organization is fantastic for so many reasons, but one of them is because they give us the same list they provide for the judges. When we came back, we were able to watch Miss America 2011, Teresa Scanlan’s interview at Miss America. I love watching the interviews because when watching a pageant, you see everything except that – and it accounts for 25%! After the video, we were given the judge’s bios for Miss O 2011. The judges are from every background and are extremely well qualified! There is a past Miss America, Miss Florida, NFL superstar (Selby wanted to ask if he was single. Now I bet she comments on this post!), local Oklahomans from backgrounds including education and business, and a few others! Interview is absolutely, hands down my favorite part of competing and I’m too excited to meet the judges!

THEN we finally moved on to the best part of the day – placement selection! The three teens and miss contestants who sold the most ads were able to select their placement first, and then titles were drawn and we had 30 seconds to choose a group/number. Sidenote: Congrats to Sarah Simpson, Miss Elk City for selling 52 ad pages! Looks like the program book will be bigger and better than ever! I was hoping to be drawn somewhere in the middle, but I was the fifth or sixth to choose! Selby and I thought fast, and selected number 18 in the Omega group. Somehow, there are 4 tappers in this group, something I was hoping to spread out. Fortunately, I am the first one!

I’m so excited about the girls in my group – they’re all really nice and I already know several! I’ll be on their same dorm hall, in the same chauffeured cars as them, and we will be getting ready alongside each other before the competition. In the Omega group, I will have my interview Monday afternoon, perform talent Tuesday, compete in on-stage question/evening gown Wednesday and swimsuit Thursday.

We left around 5, and between Selby, my mom and I – we were starving. I took advantage of my cheat meal (didn’t make a day out of it! YAY ME!) and ate at Red Rock Canyon. I put away a filet, roasted garlic mashed potatoes and best of all – cornbread! Oh, the taste of carbs….it just cannot be explained. I had so much fun getting to sit with Selby for a large portion of the day and didn’t want to send her back to Lawton/Houston! She’ll be back in a few weeks, and I may be able to meet up with her next week as well. I’m beyond fortunate to have a director who is supportive, enthusiastic, and above all – a dear, dear friend.

Now that my placement has been set, I can continue working on each portion of the competition and intend to perform my very best. Someone made a good point and said to treat every aspect as if it were weighted equally. I completely agree and I think contestant’s day was great motivation to put it all “On the Line” in June! Last night I drove back to Shawnee, then back to Norman, and am now off for another 8 hours of Strategic Fashion Communication! Needless to say, I look forward to sleeping. 🙂

P.S. At the end of the day there was a VERY big announcement….

THERE WILL BE A TOP FIFTEEN!!!!!