All I can say about this past year is..wow! After finally winning the title of Miss Teen Virginia, I was so blown away by my dream coming true that I thought to myself, winning the national title would make my life too perfect; theres no way it could happen to me. Sure enough, all of my hard work and dreaming came through and here I am your Miss Teen United States 2011! My life has changed in every possibly way this year and I would just like to say thank you to my family, friends, supporters and especially the big guy upstairs.
I am very proud to call myself a Lancer at Longwood University this year. I spent my freshman year in a small town at Sweet Briar College but then saw better opportunities at Longwood and decided I wanted to attend a larger school. This was a big transition not only because I changed schools but I also moved into my first apartment! As scary as this was at first, I'm doing quite well and have not burnt down the apartment yet :) I can't wait to start learning new things, meeting fantastic people, and making appearances in Farmville.
I have learned so many new things this year that looking back, I feel like I have really become a new girl. I'v learned to, let the unimportant things go and just live life, to appreciate the little things more, to thank god more often, and to help others because thats really what this crown is all about. After winning my crown, everyone asked me the prize package must be awesome right? Well, I had no idea honestly. The main reason I wanted this crown was to use it to help others and make an impact on their lives. Nothing is more rewarding than seeing the look on a little girl's face at a children's hospital after you put your crown on her head. This job is about changing the lives of others around you and encouraging them to follow their dreams. If we all were to encourage others to fight for what we they wanted, our world would be full of heros.
The most important thing I'v learned this year is to love myself (as corny as that sounds). Before I went on to compete for my state title my coach told me something that has stuck with me ever since, "If you don't believe you're beautiful, then how can you expect the judges to think you are?" After that, I stopped judging myself and starting complimenting myself; and it obviously worked. I was in no way the skinniest or smartest girl at nationals. Honestly, I was one of the biggest girls at nationals, but I loved my body and worked it during swimsuit. I am completely okay with the fact that I have dark roots with blonde hair, my skin is no where near perfect and I will always have the muscular legs of athlete. This is who I am and I will always take pride in myself as long as I am working hard. If more girls would think this way and appreciate themselves, statistics dealing with eating disorders and depression would dramatically drop. This is why I travel around schools speaking to children about the importance of self esteem. Please help me spread the word!
XOXO Miss Teen US
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