Washington, DC

Well, I’m back from Washington, D.C! What an incredible trip. I’m so happy that I had the chance to spend time in the nation’s capitol with my sister queen, Summer Priester. I only wish that I could have spent more time there---Luckily, Summer and I will reunite again 38 days from now in San Antonio for Miss Collegiate & High School America Pageant Week (I can’t believe it’s so close!)

Summer and I arrived in D.C. early Wednesday afternoon and hit the city right away. (Side Note: Walking around on sidewalks all day in a pair of heels takes a toll on your feet. If any of you girls are preparing for pageant week in San Antonio, make sure you put comfortable, broken-in heels on your packing list!) We fueled up with an amazing meal at Brassie Beck, a Belgian restaurant on 11^th St.. They had delicious sandwiches, salads & seafood; I DEFINITELY recommend stopping in if you’re in the city.

After lunch, Summer, Ms. Priester, Deb and I walked a few blocks over to the Lincoln Memorial, stopping for pictures in front of sculptures of Andrew Jackson and Rochambeau on the way. The Lincoln Memorial was absolutely breathtaking. We had the chance to pose in front of Abraham Lincoln’s monument and look across the Reflecting Pool toward the Washington Monument from the very spot where Martin Luther King, Jr. made his “I Have A Dream Speech”. Just incredible. 

We also stopped for a picture with a group of students from Buenos Aires on the Lincoln Memorial steps—They were on their summer vacation! How unfair!

After leaving the Lincoln Memorial, we walked through the Korean War Memorial as well as the new MLK Jr. Memorial. Both were amazing. Here are some pictures!

Unfortunately, I had an online biology quiz to complete before midnight, so after our short memorial tour, we had to return to our hotel and call it a day. Darn schoolwork :-P

We started out bright and early on Thursday, with a trip to the White House. Of course, no pictures are allowed inside, so I don’t have any to share :( but I can tell you all that it was absolutely gorgeous--the portraits, the architecture, the furniture, the chandeliers---If you ever have the opportunity to visit, you absolutely should! I’m so thankful to Senator Susan Collins and her staff for setting up a White House tour for us!

Later that morning, Summer, Deb, Ms. Priester and I headed over to the Capitol Building for a private tour. On our way in, we met Senator Kirsten Gillibrand from New York and spoke to her about our national platform, The Crown C.A.R.E.S. Senator Gillibrand is currently working on the Student Non-Discrimination Act, legislation that will protect LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender) students from harassment and bullying at school. We were so lucky to have the chance to speak with Senator Gillibrand and thank her for the work that she’s doing to further bullying prevention!

Our tour of the Capitol Building was fantastic. Again, thank you to Senator Collins and her staff for making the tour possible! Also, kudos to the Senate Cafeteria, which serves a delicious lunch :)

The Capitol Police would like me on their force :)

To finish off our Thursday tour of the city, we visited the Library of Congress. It was gorgeous! Another must-see.

I wish that I could have spent more time in D.C. It was a whirlwind trip! I guess I’ll have to return to see the Smithsonian museums, visit more memorials, ride the glass elevator at The Old Post Office, and stop by Arlington National Cemetery. I’m excited to announce that the Washington D.C. trip has been added to the Miss Collegiate America and Miss High School America national award package, so the next titleholders will have the chance to travel to D.C to promote The Crown C.A.R.E.S, visit to the White House, Capitol Building and Library of Congress AND fill me in on all of the sites that I missed! Thank you Ms. Amanda for giving the national titleholders the opportunity to take this trip—It was an amazing experience.

Unfortunately, it’s now time for me to get back to work in Orono. Only a few more weeks until I fly to San Antonio, though! Ah! I’m looking forward to meeting all of the girls and taking part in an exciting pageant week :)

Happy Holidays, Everyone!

Whew, what a busy semester!  It’s so nice to be home with my family, enjoying a bit of rest.  Here are a few of the highlights from the past few months of blog neglect:

Summer and I each received a pair of these custom-made heels, covered in Swarovski crystals. So amazing! We have such amazing High School and Collegiate America Sponsors!

In October, I had the opportunity to judge the 2^nd Annual Central Maine Pajama Pageant. Over 100 girls participated, and hundreds of pairs of pajamas and books were gathered for children staying in local domestic abuse shelters. It was a pleasure to be a part of such a meaningful and successful event!

The filming of the Acadia Hospital/Project AWARE mental health movie, “The Road Back”, was a tremendous success. Many young people from across the state participated in the project, both on camera and behind-the-scenes, during the two weekends of filming. I look forward to viewing the rough edit of the film soon! The film’s premiere is scheduled for mid-spring. Visit http://www.projectaware.net/ for updates on this project as well as many others.

Last month, I participated in the filming of a series of educational shorts produced by Project AWARE and the Department of Education designed to raise awareness about various health issues. I played the part of Valerie in a short about tobacco abuse and had the opportunity to sit in on the filming of three other shorts regarding proper nutrition, increased physical activity and bullying prevention. It was a fun and successful weekend of filming and the shorts will do a great job of educating youth around the State of Maine.

Annnnnnnd after 8 years of involvement with Project AWARE, I have officially been named to the board! I look forward to meeting the other new members and discussing project ideas and fundraising possibilities for the next year!

Finally, Summer Priester, Amanda Patterson, Deb Landry, Inez Freeman and I have just finalized plans for our trip to Washington, D.C. In January. We will be visiting the White House, touring the city and meeting with several representatives. It’ll be a fun trip and I’m sure we’ll take PLENTY of pictures! I can’t wait!

I hope that everyone enjoys a restful holiday with family and friends! Now that I’m home on break and recuperating from a busy busy semester, I promise to blog again soon (Not an empty promise, I assure you!)

Merry Christmas & God Bless!

Shannon

Fall break, Story Time and McDreamy

Ahhhh, fall break. It just couldn’t come soon enough. The past several weeks have been filled with studying, studying, studying and frequent late-night trips to Dysart’s Truck Stop for DELICIOUS desserts--I’ve never been an advocate of super-strict diets. If you stay active and eat balanced meals, there’s no reason why you can’t treat yourself every now and then ;)

Anyway, it’s nice to have a few days off to relax with my family and friends back in Saco, and the mini break has given me the opportunity to make a few appearances in Southern and Central Maine!

On Friday, I visited Kennebunk Elementary School to read Deb Landry’s "Yankee Go Home", and talk to the first grade classes about bullying. The kids were adorable, attentive, and so excited to tell me everything the know about standing up to bullies! 

After the presentation, a young boy walked up to me and said, "Shannon...I like you. I hope you have a GREAT day!” Later on, I was told that the boy was known to be somewhat of a mischief-maker and it wasn’t common for him to be say such kind and sincere things to others out-of-the-blue…Moments like that are the ones that will stick with me forever. I hope that my chat with the Kennebunk Elementary students will have a positive impact on both he and his classmates. I also hope that I’ll be able to return to KES in the spring to kick off Wellness Week with a presentation on 5210 Let’s Go!

Yesterday, I spent time at the Dempsey Challenge in Lewiston, ME as a volunteer at the Zespri Kiwifruit booth. The Dempsey Challenge is put on annually in order to raise money for the Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope & Healing at Central Maine Medical Center. There are fun runs, walk/runs and bicycle races going on all weekend, and lots of vendors and local health and wellness professionals are around, sharing health information and raising money for the cancer center. I had a chance to meet Patrick Dempsey and take a quick photo with him on Saturday, as he exited the stage following his kick-off speech. Patrick was quite a popular guy...and he had quite a security team haha.

It was a fun afternoon, and the Zespri Kiwifruit booth was a huge hit. It was run by Crossroads Youth Center, an organization that I've been involved with since elementary school. We're a part of the Zespri Kiwifruit for Kids Challenge right now and we are competing with 5 other charities from across the U.S. in the hopes of winning $10,000 from Zespri, which we will put toward the production of our film on childhood obesity. Visitors at the booth played the Kiwifruit for Kids game at www.kiwifruitforkids.com in order to earn points for the Northeast Region (Crossroads), and we gave away kiwifruit samples, t-shirts, hats, kiwifruit nutritional information, recipe cards and stickers. Hopefully the booth earned us a lot of supporters! If Crossroads earns the most points in the game, we will win the $10,000 grand prize. Right now we're almost 12,000 points ahead, but the contest runs until the end of the month. Visit the website (www.kiwifruitforkids.com) to play for Crossroads yourself! Also visit http://www.zesprikiwi.com/ for fun kiwifruit facts and yummy recipes :)

Tomorrow, I’ll be heading back to Orono to hit the books once again (boo hoo) and work on piecing together music for the Project Aware/Acadia Hospital Teen Mental Health Movie! If any artists have original music that they’d be willing to allow us to use in the film, please contact me via Facebook or email me at shannon.folsom@maine.edu :) I’m told that the first weekend of filming is going very well, and I can’t wait to spend a bit of time on the set next weekend! I was excited to see that the Bangor Daily News published an article about the project today at http://bangordailynews.com/2011/10/09/health/bangor-area-teens-write-direct-and-star-in-new-film-about-mental-health/ So exciting!

I’m off to squeeze a few more moments of relaxation out of my break!

Hopefully I won’t go another month without blogging EVER again (shame on me), but please don’t forget that you can always read about the exciting things that the Collegiate and High School girls are up to by visiting the Facebook pages or MHSA website!

Food, Fun and Week One

Well, I’m happy to report that I survived my first week back at UMO! This will definitely be a busy and challenging semester, but now that I’m all settled into my new home and better acquainted with my housemates, my anxiety’s decreased and I’m ready to buckle down on schoolwork.

I’ll admit, I had my reservations about living off campus—the 10 minute commute to class had the potential to cause major frustration—but I’m finally convinced that moving away from Oak Hall this year was the right choice. As much as I loved living in a quiet single last year, 30 seconds away from the dining hall and 2 minutes from my classes, I’m far more excited about the chance to live with housemates, in a quiet neighborhood, with cute kitties AND my own kitchen :) The amount of cooking and baking that I’ve done in the past 14 days is ridiculous. Chocolate chip cookies, brownies, peanut butter brownies, orange peanut butter cranberry cookies, chocolate chip blueberry muffins, vegan peanut butter oatmeal cookies, Israeli couscous, whole chickens, stir fries, caramelized onions, zucchini and summer squash, apple paninis, spaghetti squash….the list goes on. Of course, I didn’t bake all of the treats for myself. I shared them with friends and housemates and I've kept up with my normal, halthy eating/exercise schedule--Thank you to the Orono IGA for supplying me with carts full of reduced-price produce and thanks to the Orono Farmer’s Market for offering up some delicious goat cheese spread and fresh summer squash yesterday. Dairy, vegetables and fruits are taking over my fridge.

 Chocolate Chip Cookies :)

 Mom sent up my favorite stir fry pan :)

 Orange peanut butter cranberry cookies topped off with dark chocolate!

 Salad with fresh corn, caramelized onions and home-cooked chicken

Spaghetti? NOPE! Spaghetti squash :)

While we’re on the subject of healthy food…Did you know that September is National
Obesity Awareness Month? What better way to advocate for healthy lifestyle choices than by supporting Crossroads in ZESPRI’s Kiwifruit for Kids Campaign?! It’s super easy (and fun) to get involved, I promise. ZESPRI is trying to spread the message that childhood obesity is a solvable problem by reaching out to charities across the United States that promote healthy food and exercise choices among young people. Crossroads was the charity chosen to represent the Northeatern U.S. based on its involvement with the 5210 Program (which I’m a spokesperson for), and by playing the ZESPRI Kiwifruit for Kids game on Facebook www.kiwifruitforkids.com (which will take you all of 2 minutes each day) you can help Crossroads win the Kiwifruit Challenge and receive $10,000 for our obesity awareness film project :) PLEASE take a couple of minutes a day to play for the Northeast!

That’s all for now. I’m off to study and earn some kiwi points! Happy Hump Day!

Orlando to Orono

Well, I’ve done a pretty decent job of neglecting my blog as of late--I wanted to finish my summer off the right way with a busy schedule and lots of excitement. Before leaving for Florida, I had a fun photoshoot with a fabulous photographer from Portland, Danielle Hanson. Danielle has been pursuing photography for a decade and shoots a wide range of subject matter including landscapes, architecture, weddings and portraits. You can visit Danielle’s website at http://www.daniellehansonphotography.com/. Here is one of the photos from my shoot!

Photographer: Danielle Hanson

On Friday, the 12^th, I hopped on an airplane with my mother and sister, bound for the Miss America’s Outstanding Teen Pageant in Orlando. Pageant week began with a 7 AM photoshoot with Jenn Cady, a photographer from Nashville who does INCREDIBLE work (http://www.jenncady.com/). All of the contestants modeled Tony Bowls dresses and shoes and I worked has the official fan blower, note taker and dress thrower. It was fun to be on the other side of the camera! Luckily, I also got my time in front of the camera later on in the week--On Friday, I modeled a Jovani gown from Regalia Magnificent Apparel and several Christine Blake Designs in a photoshoot with Jenn at the MAOT tradeshow. I had such a great time working and shooting with her!

 Photographer: Jenn Cady Dress: Jovani from Regalia Magnificent Apparel

 Photographer: Jenn Cady Dress: Jovani from Regalia Magnificent Apparel

Photographer: Jenn Cady Dress: A Christine Blake Design

The rest of my week in Orlando was exciting AND super hot. I had the chance to visit Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure with my family (Harry Potter World and the new Rip Ride Rockit coaster were amazing!) and relax by the pool. I also spent several days working with the girls in the Teens in Training and Princess Camp girls who enjoyed a busy and profitable week of their own.  It was a fantastic vacation, and I’m happy to report that Ali had a wonderful experience and did a fantastic job in all phases of competition! My congratulations to the new Miss America’s Outstanding Teen, Elizabeth Fechtel—such a sweet girl!

 Family Photo (My Dress: Christine Blake Design)

Ali

Photographer: Jenn Cady Dress: Jovani

Since returning from Orlando my life has been all about moving into my new home and preparing for fall semester (Classes begin tomorrow, eek!). I’m almost all settled in, and I’m looking forward to a fun and successful year  with  my roommates :)  I’m also looking forward to the chance to cook food in my very own kitchen this year and steer clear of the dining halls haha. Lucky duck that I am, I moved back up north on just the right day, too. Tiffany Fortier, a PHENOMENAL photographer from Bangor just happened to be looking for a model to do a test session with on Wednesday, and I just happened to be departing from Saco that morning. Tiffany had the chance to test out her new lens and I had the chance to work with an amazing photographer and get some fabulous pictures. I'll post a few below, but please also check out her Flickr page at http://www.Flickr.com/photos/TLFphotography.  She has incredible portfolio and is such a great photographer to work with :)

 Photography & Styling: Tiffany Fortier

 Photography & Styling: Tiffany Fortier

Photography & Styling: Tiffany Fortier

Coming up: 

-Information on Crossroads’ partnership with the Kiwifruit for Kids program and its fall project to raise awareness about childhood obesity and eating disorders.

-Updates on the progress of the Acadia Hospital/Project Aware movie about mental health stigma.

-Seminar with Kyle Haggerty, nationally renowned pageant coach: Sunday November 20^th in Waterville, Maine.