What a two years it’s been. While I still hold my Miss Teen of America title until Thanksgiving, everything just seemed to culminate in this past weekend’s Miss Teen of New York Pageant.
I had been looking forward to this pageant all summer. So much so that the mononucleosis I was diagnosed with two days before couldn’t even stop me from going. After sleeping the mono off for two days, I packed up the car on Thursday and drove myself to the Holiday Inn Liverpool in Syracuse, New York. Two years ago I had driven with my parents to the pageant and I felt like a huge bucket of nerves. I felt so grown up now, driving myself and being the first staff to report. I found the hotel staff and started unloading my car’s contents into headquarters. The traditional Walmart run and setting up headquarters were mostly completed before Sunny’s flight landed later that night.
In the morning, Sunny and I were joined by Miss Teen of Idaho Paige Jensen, the new Miss Teen of Pennsylvania Hayley Fisher, and their moms. Friday afternoon was a blur of making signs, preparing for check-in, watching our favorite YouTube videos, and getting very, very lost on our way to Panera Bread.
Check-in went fairly smooth, despite terrible road work on the I-90 E that kept my girls from Western New York from arriving on time. At the end of the check-in tables, the moms had set up my scrapbooks, picture frames, souvenirs, and general Miss Teen memorabilia that I had accumulated over the years into a kind of shrine common at grad parties. I didn’t have a high school graduation party, so I think I treated this weekend as one a little bit. It was nice having all of this stuff on hand, though, since there were three girls competing this weekend that I had competed against, so they were able to see pictures from that weekend two years ago.
As I’ve been staffing more and more pageants, Sunny’s given me a little more responsibility, so I helped open up Briefing Session. When it was time, the titleholders and I took the girls to our get-acquainted party. Hayley got them started on the choreography for “Dancin’ in the Aisles” and when it looked as if ears were about to start bleeding, we divvied the girls up to let them start working on their problem-solving skits. With all the important business out of the way, we could finally let loose. We played some rousing rounds of “Have You Ever?” that lead to quite a few, yours truly included, being forced to sing “I’m a Little Teapot”. From there, we cupid-shuffled away and signed tshirts. My New York shaped splotches were quite the hot commodity.
After the girls were dismissed, my parents and Eileen arrived. Work schedules kept all three from not coming up sooner, but they were glad to get there in time for the busy Saturday morning.
Saturday morning I got the girls going with some stretches, always a sight to see when I’m wearing a pencil skirt and heels. Hayley finished teaching the girls the dance, and I took over with interview mini-sessions. The stage was a little smaller than we were used to, so Sunny took over poise mini-sessions, switching up the walk and talk a little bit.
From rehearsal, girls got to have a nice formal lunch while I ate with the judges. For interviews, girls had two interviews with two judges at a time for three minutes each. We were so oddly well prepared for everything that there wasn’t much to do, and interviews felt a little slow going. However, it gave us a nice opportunity to chat with the girls while trying to ease their nerves. Poise went well, even though it was a little out of the ordinary for us to have the girls wait outside before entering the stage. We took pictures with most of the girls before heading off to a fun dinner at Tully’s.
That evening the banner girls and I ran the skits. We had quite an audience turnout for the entertainment extravaganza, and judging by the girls costumes and props featuring bathrobes, pipe cleaners, brooms, and mini shampoo bottles, we were in for quite a show. The five skits were very creative, and the girls did a really great jobs. We had some wonderful actresses in our bunch!
After the big show, we had another dance rehearsal and started to go over what would happen during finals the next day. The girls had worked really hard, so I wanted to give them a surprise. I gave each of my girls a little bag with some candy and a pink glow-in-the-dark bracelet, so they could all remember the weekend. It was still fairly early, so we played a game of “Murder” before the girls went off to bed.
I spent the rest of the night with titleholders, Sunny, and the moms, and we had a really fun time.
Sunday was the big day, my last day as Miss Teen of New York! There were a lot of emotions that were going through me. I was excited that another girl was going to have the amazing opportunities that I’ve had, and I couldn’t wait to find out who it was going to be. But I was still sad that it was coming to an end. Afterall, it won’t be much longer until I’m handing off my Miss Teen of America title…
Rehearsal didn’t start until midmorning, so we got to sleep in a little bit. All the girls were dressed in their red, white, and pink as we ran through the rest of what finals would be. We had to change our plans around a little bit, since the rain didn’t like our previous plans of having the girls enter from outside.
At 2 p.m., the Miss Teen of New York candidates rushed down the aisles! It hit me really hard that this could be the last time I see “Dancin’ in the Aisles” performed live! Inconceivable! The girls then did a little cheer about themselves, and the audience learned that our girls ate some very interesting things as children… Once back in formal wear, the girls were asked to talk on stage about their greatest influence, their future goals, or the greatest issue facing teens. And then, the top six were announced! The girls had quite a lot on their plate, as they answered questions from their paperwork, a fishbowl question, and walked poise once again. A few awards were handed out and then, six became three. The top three faced the soundproof booth. I gave my farewell speech. Even though it was only my first farewell speech, I still cried like a baby. I wasn’t the only one. Sunny was all waterworks. (I’ll post video and the entire original speech - unedited - in the next blog.) And then it was announced that my replacement, the new Miss Teen of New York, would be…a 15 year-old from Lakewood, Kenzie Sandberg!
Kenzie was just shocked. There was such a look of joy on her face as she grabbed at her first runner-up Amanda Berg for a hug. I still remember how it feels. It’s crazy, and wonderful. Kenzie pulled me into a big hug next, and then she got her first lesson in smiling for lots and lots of pictures.
After pictures, we went into briefing sessions. I probably threw a few too many helpful hints and suggestions at the Sandbergs, but I’m just so excited for this new experience awaiting Kenzie!
Staff dinner at Chilis was fun, but a little sad. It was so, so hard to leave headquarters and head back home. I became so close to everyone on staff, and it was tough saying goodbye, knowing that I wouldn’t see them until at least Thanksgiving…when I hand over the title of Miss Teen of America.
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