Children: One Third of our Population and all of our Future

Sun! How could I not be in a good mood? Luckily, I haven’t exactly had to spend the past week sitting inside, suffering from boredom and griping about the lousy weather. I’ve been niiiiice and busy! This past weekend, I had the opportunity to emcee Truly Talented Kids at the Schoolhouse Performing Arts Center with Miss Maine High, Sammi Clark, and Miss Teen Maine Academic, Taylor Santos. Cast members sang, danced, played piano and guitar, told jokes, and performed original skits. The level of talent among these 8-18 year olds was really impressive and as far as I could tell, not a single one of them suffered from any bit of performance anxiety! At one point during the Saturday night show, the background music went out on a young girl while she was singing alone. Without missing a beat, she continued on, acapella, for the remaining minute and a half of the song. How awesome! The show was a fundraiser for the theater, which is in desperate need of volunteers and financial support at the moment. Participating in the performing arts has played such an important role in my personal development over the years, so I hate to see kids in danger of losing their opportunity to take part in community theater, and I hope that Truly Talented Kids brought in a reasonable amount of money for Schoolhouse.  I also hope that some of the young girls who I got to know during the run will be participating in the Maine Academic Pageants this summer!

After a day of rest, I was back on the road yesterday, headed up to Old Town High School for a presentation with Project AWARE, a youth empowerment organization that I’ve been involved with since the 8^th grade (man, how time flies!). Currently, Project AWARE is collaborating with The Acadia Hospital to develop of a short video about depression and anxiety amongst teens.  The video, which will be written and produced by teens and filmed by a professional production company from Portland (Gum Spirits), will engage, educate and empower teens to address the stigma that surrounds mental illness. The video will serve as a powerful educational tool, and the project itself offers many Maine high school students the opportunity to gain experience in script writing, acting, videography, graphic design, film editing, lighting and directing. Project AWARE is also encouraging young people to submit personal stories and original music for the film. From start to finish, the direction of the project will be guided primarily by teens. And DON’T underestimate what they’re capable of! The final product is sure to be incredible. If you’re interested in reading more about the project or seeing clips from some of our past projects, visit the Project AWARE website at projectaware.net :) As the project progresses, I’m sure that I’ll have more to share!

While I’m on the topic of mental health, I also feel compelled to recommend a book that I recently finished by Julie Holland, called Weekends at Bellevue. If you’re looking for a new book to read and you’re interested in psychotherapy, mental disorders or medicine, you should check it out. Julie Holland is hilarious and the book is fast-paced and super interesting. And if you read it and don’t like it, you can go ahead and yell at me for wasting your time….You won’t.

I suppose that’s all for now! It’s time for me to do a little research (Ew!), check out what’s playing for Psych Week, and get some rest!

Shannon

Better Late Than Never!

Two years of post-secondary education down, many more to go. After a busy, albeit successful, spring semester, I certainly welcome a little vacation time! Still, it’s amazing how anxious I can become after a lecture/exam/assignment-free week. My first few days at home were filled with lots of reading, working out, playing with foster kittens (they’re so cute!), and dealing with guilt over the fact that I seem to have no imminent deadlines to meet. Luckily, I started an online class on Tuesday soooo, problem fixed! (Nerd)

With a bit more time on my hands, I’ve decided to start a blog. My intention is not only to keep everyone up to date on my Collegiate America appearances and performances, but to create a log for myself so that I’ll be able to look back and remember all of the incredible experiences I had during my reign (and all of the incredible people I have to thank!).

So, here’s blog post number one! It’s unfortunate that I’m getting such a late start. I’ve kept a Twitter page the last few months (@Collegiate2011), tweeting about my experiences, but it’s tough to say everything I’d like to in 140 characters or less and I need a place for pictures! The past few months have been busy with appearances, fashion shows, TV and radio interviews, emceeing, singing, and of course an incredible trip to San Antonio for the Miss High School America Pageant! My most recent appearance involved a fashion show fundraiser for Christine Blake Designs. I modeled a few of Christine’s original dresses as well as some jewelry by Cookie Lee, and I had a blast! If you’re interested in having Christine design a special occasion dress for you, check out the Christine Blake LLC page on Facebook! The dresses are super affordable and absolutely gorgeous. I’ll post a picture that was taken before the show began. Models included Daisy Blake (Miss Little Maine), Kristy Huff (Miss Maine Collegiate), Sammi Clark (Miss Maine High School), BreAnna Beal (Ms. Eastern Maine), Christine Blake (Mrs. Maine United States), and Marybeth Noonan (Miss Maine’s Outstanding Teen).  I always love it when titleholders from various systems come together for an event. I think it’s so important that we all support one another, WHICH leads me to another point! It’s pageant season (but then, when isn’t it?) and I have some girls to congratulate! First, congratulations to our new Miss Hawaii Collegiate Alyssandra Baniqued and Miss Hawaii High Angelica Reyes as well as Miss Wyoming Collegiate 2010, Allie DeSantis who was recently named Ohio’s Perfect Miss! I also want to congratulate my Outstanding Teen sister, Megan Lyman, who recently placed 1^st RU at Miss New Hampshire! I’m sure that I’ll have plenty more messages of good luck and congratulations over the next few months as my friends, sister, and sister queens compete for various titles! 

Now, it’s time to do a little bit of reading, catch up on an online lecture, and perhaps practice “Taylor the Latte Boy” a few times. I’ll be emceeing and performing at the Truly Talented Kids show this weekend at the Schoolhouse Arts Center. I’m so happy to have been asked to be a part of this year’s production! I’ll take any chance I can to perform AND show off one of my fabulous cocktail dresses from The Royal We :)

That’s it for now!

Shannon