Congratulations to all the girls so far who have made it to the National pageant in July!! All you who competed are beautiful, amazing ladies who have the potential to do amazing things in life.
To the new title holders, you all have a very exciting year ahead and please do not let this year go to waste. Contrary to the stereotype, pageants not just about beauty and charisma, but they are also a way for girls to become deeply involved in their communities. Do you remember the way that you may have looked up to your mentor or parent or sibling when you were a child? Or even have you seen a child copying the motions or words of these people? Children always have someone to look up to and now you are all role models.
Part of being a titleholder is choosing a platform. This can be a cause, issue or specific organization that you want to help. Yes, this can be a very difficult overwhelming process to choose one, but if you can find something you are passionate about, you will be all the more willing to want to do as much as you can to help. Remember, your platform is something that is important to you, not something that will sound good to everyone else.
Personally, I chose my platform because I am extremely bothered by the relationship between the amount of food waste in our city and the number of individuals who go hungry every day. I wanted to be involved with variety of organizations centered around helping the hungry. This included those who take perfectly good food (that would typically go to waste) and providing it to those in need in local communities. Obviously hunger and poverty is a complex global issue and that is exactly why it hasn’t been solved yet. I will go into more detail about my platform in a separate blog post but the point is, I chose something I was passionate about even if that wasn’t traditional.
Lastly, try to volunteer or help out at various events for different organizations – there is so much to learn from every experience!
Best of luck ladies!
xoxo
Lauren
