Skip to main content

Pageant Update!


As some of you might know, I participated in the Miss Austin Peay/Miss Queen City pageant that happened on Saturday the 22nd. I had a blast meeting so many new faces and seeing some again for a second time. Pageants really are a wonderful thing to bring young women together, but they are also a way to shine lights on topics close to our hearts. The Miss America foundation promotes service and platforms that the contestants bring with them. Our current Miss America, Nia Franklin, has the platform of "Advocating for the Arts" and has since teamed with Sing for Hope which you can learn more about here.

My own platform, as you may have guessed, is Speak Up Stand Tall Against Teen Dating Abuse. During the course of Saturday night, I was able to not only speak to the crowd but some of the contestants about what I did within the community as well as my own experience with teen dating abuse. I was met with great acceptance and praise-- and I even won the inaugural Doug Barber Service Award which was an absolute honor. Even though I didn't place, I see that as a huge win and look forward to continuing to serve in my area with hopes to further branch out in the comings years. I once heard that you should never make plans big enough that you can achieve them yourself-- you need to make plans big enough that you can only achieve them with the help of God. That's what I plan to do with this ministry. In the coming years, I want to reach all the teens within Middle Tennessee if not more whether through pageants or through some means I've yet to find. As it's said, God works in mysterious ways.

 A big shout out to everyone who has supported me through all of the pageant craziness, especially my parents who invest so much in me. A big thank you to my friend Natalie, who did my make up, and to my mom, who did my hair, for both the private interview and the pageant. A big thank you to my dad who got me to the pageant, brought me flowers, and carried a lot of my things to the car after the pageant. (And a special thanks to my boyfriend, Sam, who took me to get an Oreo Doublestuff cone from Sonic after the pageant-- I really needed some ice cream).

Wish me luck in the coming month as I continue to update this blog and continue to work with the youth at Springcreek, my new church home. I am so excited for all the doors that keep opening up before me. All glory to God!

If you know any organization (scouts, church, etc.) that would like to have me speak on Teen Dating Abuse, please contact me through my website here with your email address. To keep up with updates on this blog please feel free to hit the subscribe button in the top right corner to be alerted to new posts every Monday. Have something you would like to know more about in the future? Leave a comment and I'll do my best to answer right away! Remember, the first step in solving the problem of teen dating abuse is awareness!
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Abuse is like Shoes

“Abusive behavior erodes a person slowly. Imagine a pair of shoes whose soles are so worn there are holes in each. When they came out of the box fresh and new no one would have imagined their tatted state. Yet over time, it happens; they are walked on day in and day out, feet dragged and scuffed, tread marks over pavement, which wears down the layers until one day later they are not recognizable.” -Elin Waldal, “Tornado Weather: A Memoir of Teen Dating Violence and It’s Effec t on a Woman’s Life” I've had this pair of converse since I was in seventh grade. I remember the day I finally talked my mother into getting them for me-- they were the start of my whole collection of converse. To this day, I collect and wear this awesome brand of shoes, but this, my first pair, has been put to the side. As you can probably see, they're dingy and falling apart. What you can't see is how horribly worn down the insides and bottoms are.  I didn't buy these shoes falling a...
1 comment
Read more

Mythbusting Abuse : Is It Easy to Leave?

Usually, when I think of myths, I think of mythology. Greek or Roman or even Norse. When I think of myths, I think of things that were believed thousands of years ago, stories about Zeus turning his lover into a cow or Heracles' acts to please the goddess Hera. In high school, I was rather familiar with myths. I was in a club called Junior Classical League, and while the Latin language was the primary objective, culture and myths were my interests. I won a couple ribbons for mythology-- never first but never fifth either. Usually forth, if I'm honest. I still try to keep my knowledge growing. Last year, I took a semester class on the subject. I even have a book on Greco-Roman mythology that I crack open now and then. What I don't think of when I hear the word myths is myths about abuse. Or at least, I didn't use to. The fact is that, as a survivor of abuse, I encounter a lot of people who discount my experience because 'if it was that bad, you could have left...
Post a Comment
Read more

My Experience with Counseling

I think that going to a counselor was one of the best things I did after exiting the abusive relationship I was involved in. It wasn't something I had really considered, and I am not sure if it was something I would have gone to without being pushed. After something such as an abusive relationship, it's hard to figure out exactly what to do. I had kept so many things to myself, both out of shame and fear. I would never have thought to go tell all of what I felt to someone I didn't know. Moreover, I wasn't exactly in the headspace to make good decisions. I was in a spiral. I honestly don't remember much of the time directly after ending my relationship, but I do remember the first day I went to see my first counselor. I had a sort of block class-- meaning it was two separate classes that fit together with the same teacher. I had missed the first of them, having hidden in the courtyard of the science building to cry. I did come to the second part though. I didn...
2 comments
Read more