I was honored to introduce and present the student marshals with their awards. Every single one has undergone an extreme form of adversity, yet, they still maintain their optimism. The student marshal pictured below is Emily Hall. I was able to speak with Emily briefly, and she is the sweetest girl. She attends Oak Canyon Junior High, is heavily involved in volunteering - over 100 hours at the SCERA alone - and loves choir.
For the entertainment of the evening, Miss Greater Salt Lake Hannah Harkness (also a past Miss Orem) Anna Richey, and I performed. They each have incredible talents and amazing messages to accompany them. Anna is an advocate for anti-bullying and dedicated a song to her friend who passed away due to mistreatment by his peers. Hannah advocates for her platform "Ready Behind the Wheel" in order to prevent car accidents due to distracted drivers. I also was able to advocate my platform which is "Building Children's SELF esteem" (I will go into further detail about my platform in an upcoming blog post).
Following the dinner, the royalty and I had the opportunity to meet the Grand Marshal Ryan Shupe! He signed his CDs for us and was more than happy to take a few pictures with us. Fun fact: he's an incredible fiddler. Maybe one day we'll perform a duet... ;)
Overall, the dinner was a success! We had a blast connecting with sponsors, past and current city council members, and family.
The next day I visited the crafts section of the Summerfest and met some wonderful kids. They were all so creative in making crowns, eyeglasses, and dog tags. I got to have conversations with a lot of them. I talked with a couple girls about their experience in New York, our mutual love of Taylor Swift, and Disney Princesses. It was so great getting to become friends with them, and know them on a more personal level.
After visiting the crafts section, the royalty and I performed our talents at the Summerfest.
We all had a blast performing! Singing, playing the violin, dancing, signing, and performing poetry were all great fun. My favorite part was the dance party we had to "Shut Up and Dance" as our finale. Members of the audience - including Maddi Millard Miss Orem 2014 - joined us on the stage to dance and, as you can see, it was such a party!
Later that night I had the opportunity of introducing Ryan Shupe at the start of his concert. Him and his band had a huge crowd, and for good reason! They rocked that stage!
The next morning, the royalty and I showed up to the Orem Senior Friendship Center bright and early for the Baby Contest! We were appointed as judges for different age divisions. A lot of the babies were timid, and who could blame them? I'd get stage fright if my mom set me on a table in front of three strangers and told me to be cute! But they were adorable. The babies were mesmerized by the light up wands, candy, bubbles, and balls we had on the tables for them to play with.
These two cuties are brother and sister. The little girl dressed up as Cinderella while her brother dressed up as The Prince and pulled her around in a wagon made to look like a carriage. It was fun talking to them about their favorite princesses and superheroes and how it felt to be royalty.
Prior to the judging of the baby contest, the royalty and I visited some vendors at the Summerfest! We tried out the go-carts and let me tell you - climbing into a go-cart in heels and a crown is not an easy endeavor.
Below is Greg Park who is one of my favorite teachers of all time. He was my student council adviser and Japanese teacher in High School. Not only is he a teacher, but he's also a well known author! It was so great to see him!
We also met Elsa and couldn't pass up the opportunity to take a royalty picture.
Passing out the awards of the Baby Contest was great because we had the help of the Miss Amazing Royalty! They were such great sports and more than willing to help us pass out prizes and pose for plenty of pictures. We were able to chat about the joys of high-heels and about being in a royalty. I hope we get to do more with them in the future! They all are so kind and have such sweet spirits.
Immediately following the Baby Contest awards we, the royalty, had to rush to prepare for the Summerfest parade. We were all really excited for the parade, especially since it kicked off the parades for the rest of the summer.
Our float is so perfect it's like a dream. A really big dream ;) We even won the grand prize for our float!
Before the parade began, we visited the other floats and met plenty of fantastic people.
(I couldn't resist a selfie with these cute guys)
We found a horse drawn carriage and the driver was very accommodating when we asked for a picture. We also met sweet little kids who were really excited to see us in crowns and pretty dresses.
We also met several of the local royalties! It was so nice being able to actually talk to them in person. All of them were very easygoing, beautiful, and down to earth. That's one of the reasons why I love the Miss America Organization. It doesn't just promote one titleholder, it promotes a sisterhood of service, love, and support.
The parade itself was such a novel and enthralling experience! Seeing friends, family, kids, and the people of Orem all gathered together was amazing. I loved every minute. It was great being able to wave at little kids and see their reactions to me blowing a kiss their way or waving. Some people would wave at me with the "beauty queen" wave which I thought was awesome. Someone even asked me to show my muscles and I obliged by flexing my bicep :)
The parade was so much fun with my Little Miss (and cousin) Nikki. She loves getting to be a princess and was so excited to see her friends and our family in the crowd. I'm so lucky to be able to share this experience with her!
After the parade, I was able to visit and take pictures with so many different people. Being able to meet little kids and get to know the community is one of the many things that makes being Miss Orem so rewarding. Everyone I have come into contact with has been so supportive and affable.
My thought of gratitude for today is for Orem and the amazing people in it! I'm so grateful for the beautiful Family City, USA. Someone was telling me today that there was just something about Orem that makes it unique, and I'm pretty sure it's the love and encouragement most everyone expresses for each other. Serving as Miss Orem and representing this community at the Summerfest is something I will never forget.
Love,
Jesse Craig
Miss Orem 2015-2016
