Month as Miss Metro St. Louis: September Update
Hi, friends!I am going to start a new thing on my blog to share what I am doing each month as Miss Metro St. Louis. I can't believe September is almost over and fall is "technically" here!..........................................................................................................................................................................
As many of you know, I competed at Miss Missouri in June as Miss Crown City, representing the Miss Kansas City Scholarship Organization. Being Miss Crown City made my first bucket list item come true: compete at Miss Missouri. The board, the people, my director, the city...it truly was such a fantastic experience for my first year and I wouldn't change my preparations or how it ended up if I could. While I did not perform as well at Miss Missouri as I originally hoped, it left me motivated to do better, to defy expectations, and come ready to compete in one of the 30-ish local preliminaries this year to earn my spot back at Miss Missouri.I signed up for Miss Metro St. Louis with full expectations of doing it for the practice. When I was 8 years old and wanted to begin this "pageant stuff", Miss Metro St. Louis was a title that I had heard of and set my sights on. This year, the "Metro girls" went 3 for 3 in Top Five at Miss Missouri, placing first, second and third runner-up to Miss Missouri...and whoever was next would have big shoes to fill. I was really excited for the opportunity to compete on stage again, to reunite with my Miss Missouri sisters and other contestants, and to have a weekend in St. Louis. At the end of the night, I won Miss Metro St. Louis. I'm still SO excited to be competing at Miss Missouri (Round #2, y'all) and to represent both Eldon and St. Louis this year. I felt good throughout the pageant, wore a $90 evening gown that I bought online, and hoped for the best. Below are some competition pics from the weekend. I was so shocked to win but Miss Metro St. Louis refueled my confidence and gave me the motivation to put in the work to make my dreams come true come June.
Also something exciting happened on Saturday! Christina Beard, my longtime friend from high school, won Miss River City! Miss River City is a special title for women who have never competed at Miss Missouri before and I'm excited that we get to experience this journey together. She has been working for a long time to make it to state -- it'll be a fun time! I already love all of my sister queens and we added Katelyn Lewis and Abbie Mueller, the Fleur de Lis' titleholders on Sunday.
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After the pageant, I travelled back to Columbia for formal sorority recruitment at the University of Missouri with my Kappa Alpha Theta sisters. We welcomed 65 of the sweetest new members to our chapter and my bid day buddy, Annaliese, is a fellow pageant gal!
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I attended Miss Missouri Jennifer Davis' Send-Off Party for Miss America as one of my first events as Miss Metro St. Louis.
What a great feeling to be back in Mexico, Missouri, the home of Miss Missouri, celebrating Jenn. Jenn is such a joy and I wish we would've become friends sooner. At Miss Metro St. Louis, she wrote me an encouraging note before competition and came backstage to tell me that my hair looked fine and that I was doing good during the pageant. It's the little things that she does that show how much she cares about our organization, the people in it, and the life of a titleholder -- and that showed with her FIRST RUNNER-UP finish at MISS AMERICA.
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This month I also attended the Miss Zona Rosa pageant as "visiting royalty" and got to see one of my favorite Miss Missouri friends, Carolyn Koepping. I've looked up to her for many years as the Missouri State feature twirler -- she is as sweet as they come, folks! I also got to hang out with Phyllis, a gem on the Miss KC Board. Phyllis and I had many Facetime chats and she prepared me for current events, life, and everything in between. Much love to momma Phyllis and I'm so glad pageants brought us together.
This semester I am taking a class called "Community Food Systems" through the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources. I absolutely love it, especially because my platform "From Plate to Politics: Feeding Missouri's Future" ties in so well to what I am studying and the types of work that I am interested in. We had an assignment comparing food prices at different places (think grocery store vs. farmers' market vs. cashsaver) and it was very eye opening into the reality of food accessibility in Columbia, Missouri.
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I also started running this semester! My theta sista friend Niki and I went for a morning run (guys, I DON'T run. I've always wanted to but haven't figured out how to get started. Niki made me do it!). It was so empowering and I felt better afterwards. I'm excited to check off "run a 5k" off the bucket list soon, and add more cardio to my workout regime.
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September was full of CMN events
and one of my favorites was Cowboys for Kiddos, a fun country themed dance/dinner benefitting Children's Miracle Network of Greater St. Louis. Lauren, my teen, and I were stationed at the cotton candy, bundt cakes, and popcorn table and had so much fun conversing with the attendees. We were joined by Abbie, Christina and Heleena, Miss Missouri's Outstanding Teen.
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Christina and I stayed at Lauren's house that weekend and I really enjoyed getting to know Lauren and her mom Jennifer better. We went to brunch the next morning with several of the Metro girls and their moms....I'm already becoming such a fan of St. Louis' food! Here's to many more weekends and Metro bonding this year.
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This past weekend, Abbie and I volunteered at the Sun Run, benefitting Cardinal Glennon Hospital, which is one of two St. Louis area CMN affiliates.
We were responsible for handing out packets and shirts for some of the 1,500 participants that walked/ran the 5k #ForTheKids!
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This weekend I also got to spend quality time with my director, Mary Ann.
She was the sweetest hostess and took me to the best brunch/dinner places. Brett, Bree, Mary Ann and I went to Ted Drewes, a custard place, and it was so fun! It was a weekend of pageant talks, discussing my goals, and lots of great eats. It ended with Miss Missouri USA/Miss Missouri Teen USA in St. Charles and followed with a super fun dinner with some of the Miss Metro board and our reigning Miss Missouri, Jenn Davis and her mom Nicole! It was so so so so fun and I loved seeing Jenn post-Miss America.
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Okay, that's all for me.Xo,HollyMiss Metro St. Louis