Miss Missouri Winter Workshop
This summer I'll be competing in Miss Missouri for the 3rd time and we kicked off round 3 with the Miss MO Class of 2019 at Winter Workshop this weekend!
//// Different segment of Five Things Friday this week because my mind has been on Miss Missouri! Check out this post to see what I did this weekend and the five biggest lessons I learned.
For those not familiar, winter workshop is a one-day event in March where most of the Miss and Outstanding Teen candidates and their local directors (and parents if they so choose), most of the Miss MO Board of Directors, the reigning Miss MO and Miss Missouri's Outstanding Teen gather to provide a brief overview of items pertinent to pageant week and preparation for the job of Miss Missouri, especially helpful for the rookie candidates. Of the 26 candidates for Miss Missouri, almost half are new (or new to me!) so I'm excited to get to know them over the next three months before Miss Missouri week.
The day started early at 8:30am. We all gathered into the Boone County Electric Cooperative Community Room in Columbia, Mo., to pay for our lunches, Show-Me Princess production shirts and to mingle with old friends. At 9am the program began with introductions of our current titleholders and directors, followed by an in-depth discussion about our paperwork and connecting with the judges through our stories.
*Side Note* The Show-Me Princess Program is the mentoring program of Miss Missouri. Each candidate has at least 1 princess between the ages of 5 and 12 to share the week of Miss Missouri with. For my last three years competing I've been very lucky to share my time with Maddie Dwyer, a spunky, kind Girl Scout from the Kansas City area. We are SO excited for another year together and would welcome another princess to join our team! It costs $400 ($450 for a new princess) but I'm willing to offset a portion of the cost to provide any young girl who wants the experience to join me onstage, during the parade and at events during Miss Missouri week.
This day is nothing but information, and for the Type A like me, I love it. I had my Erin Condren planner out taking notes with my favorite pen (Sarah Kasubke, Miss Zona Rosa, told me I had the prettiest handwriting!) and I jotted down everything on my printed handouts/paperwork copies. We were briefed on the Miss America 2.0 changes and given information about salute pages, being a great local titleholder, advocating for Children's Miracle Network Hospitals and promoting ourselves and this organization on social media. So much content jam-packed into one incredible day of learning!
Miss Missouri Winter Workshop
This year, the Miss MO Board brought former local titleholders to speak on some of those topics and I found that so insightful! Mikaela Carson was one guest speaker and she was my sister queen my first year at Miss Missouri. She spoke about ways to be an impactful local titleholder and how to be your "hometown Miss America." That is so important -- I've often found myself waiting for the moment of becoming Miss Missouri or Miss America to implement programs, action plans or ideas, when the state of Missouri needs that influence and change now. I'm so glad we were able to learn from the experiences of former titleholders like Mikaela and I thank Demi and Pattie, Taylor and Mikaela for joining us.
After lunch, our groups divided into Outstanding Teen candidates and Miss candidates to speak with our respective reigning titleholder -- this is always my highlight of orientation or winter workshop every year. Something about hearing Miss Missouri speak about her year, the challenges, the highlights, the "wow I'm Miss Missouri" moments gets me fired up and excited for June to get here.
Katelyn, our current Miss Missouri, is easily my best "pageant friend" and to see her live out her dream of being Miss Missouri has been so fruitful - the wisdom she offered to us candidates was so special and I've learned a lot from her reign and the effort she takes into making each candidate feel supported and valued.
Top 5 Takeaways:
- Comparison will steal every ounce of joy. In a world where you hear time and time again "I don't like your hair," "you should look like this," "did you see her talent? it's so cool," "you're too tall and lanky," "she's going to win, she's a shoo-in"... STOP listening, leave the room, do whatever is in your power to control the thoughts, emotions, actions, and results to follow because of what someone else said/did. In the pageant world it's hard, it's so hard sometimes. But you sister, are qualified and capable just as you are and I see all the potential in you.
- The job of Miss Missouri is an obligation to the state of Missouri. You take a year off of school to fulfill the job responsibilities and you represent our state in the highest capacity on the MISS AMERICA STAGE (just got goosebumps, wow!!). You owe it to the state to be your best possible self at Miss Missouri.
- For many people involved with Miss Missouri, it is a volunteer position, meaning no compensation for the hours upon hours spent working with local titleholders (if you're a local director) or coordinating production, social media, salute pages or logistical areas if you're involved in another capacity. It's so crazy to me to look at how successful our program is, how large it has gotten and how much money we're able to raise for CMNH with a crew of volunteers -- I am indebted to the support and generosity of so many people that keep this organization a well-oiled machine, beyond the one week in Mexico, Mo.
- This time last year it was warm enough that I was wearing a cute two-piece purple outfit to this event -- and this year it was cold! Please bring spring and summer back!
- Perhaps the most exciting part....it's the 50TH anniversary of MISS MISSOURI! To join the legacy and the historic sisterhood would be so so special to me. For those who don't know, my talent selection is inspired by the only Miss Missouri to become Miss America, Debbye Turner Bell, who played it during her marimba piece at Miss America. Before seeing her play, I never thought I could do it. I want so badly to be that inspiration for other young women across our state -- the marimba is for YOU, rural Missouri. Rural fine arts education is where I learned how to play and there's a place for rural girls on the Miss Missouri stage.
It's the conversation with the reigning titleholder that always gets me a little teary-eyed. I'm humbled by the experience of even competing for Miss Missouri; my little girl self only dreamed of this moment. This job is a 365-day commitment, but you're representing the thousands of young women that wanted that position too, the thousands that will never get there for situations out of their control, and the ones that were told no and listened - not just your 30ish-person class of Miss MO candidates. I'm so giddy about the thought of representing our state in that capacity and I pray that my perseverance, dedication, and strength continue over my last three months of preparation and that I stay diligently in my own lane.
One of my most favorite parts of being a returning local titleholder is mentoring the younger contestants, especially the Outstanding Teens! Everyone who knows me knows that my OT from last year, Lauren Vanlandingham, and I had a very special bond and I want other young women to feel the same bond and support through this organization. Meet Schyler, the CUTEST teen from Centralia who recently won our newest title, Miss Columbia's Outstanding Teen! Schyler has competed several times and to see her finally win the title that was made for her is so heartwarming. In a world that tells you to quit and to give up after "failure" or after other people doubt you, this organization has taught me to go -- and to keep going, even when you feel alone or afraid.
Schyler is a member of the Centralia FFA chapter and I spoke to
their chapter last fall about Miss MO and becoming hunger fighters!
SO excited because in one month....it's MISS MISSOURI ORIENTATION. Y'all, I will never get over the fact that I am competing for Miss Missouri. If you are interested in supporting me financially through the purchase of a salute page, please contact me at holly.enowski@gmail.com or via Facebook.
Let's do this pals
XOXO
Holly Enowski
Miss Fleur de Lis