Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Happy Read Across America celebration! The National Education Association is building a nation of readers through its wonderful program, Read Across America. Now in its 15th year, the program focuses on motivating children and teens to read through events, partnerships, and reading resources. This special day is celebrated on or near the birthday of Dr. Seuss and thousands of schools, libraries, and community centers participate by bringing together kids, teens, and books. My platform, “Reading for the Right Reasons” supports this mission, and I was a guest at the Buckshutem Street School in Bridgeton where I read Green Eggs and Ham, The Foot Book, and some of my other favorite books. I have always loved Dr. Seuss books, and he seems just as popular as ever. It is so rewarding to see kids excited about books and reading!
In preparation for the Samuel Mickle School’s March Madness Reading Contest and book drive I visited with all of their third, fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students. They will be reading the entire month of March in order to earn an ice cream party. I hope they remember to invite me to that celebration also. Recently, I was invited to St. Mary Elementary School and Our Lady of Mercy Academy. I have to admit I was nervous about the latter school because I had a blue feather in my hair and gold metallic nails. (That story to come.) I wasn’t sure it was appropriate showing up to a Catholic school like that. However, I felt rather ordinary- looking when I got there because it happened to be a special dress goofy day at school and the girls had really outdone themselves. In addition to these schools I also spoke to the Wenonah Women’s Club and the Washington Township Rotary Club about my experiences as Miss New Jersey and my platform “Reading for the Right Reasons.”

It has been an exciting month for Children’s Miracle Network Hospital (CMNH) in New Jersey. At the Children’s Specialized Hospital launch breakfast CMNH sponsors got a chance to connect, brainstorm, learn and even fuel a little friendly competition. We also were introduced to our new Champion Child for this year, Ariana McGuire. Check out this video about Ariana on YouTube! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81oBqxfNVXM
February 28th was National Pancake Day and I met up with past and present Champions at the IHOP in Brick, New Jersey. It happens to have been the IHOP to raise the most funds in the entire nation for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals over the past two years. Miss New Jersey contestants have also been busy fundraising for Children’s Miracle Network, and I have enjoyed attending their fundraisers over the past few weeks. Coming up on April 21st there is a CMNH fundraiser called “Stepping Out with the Stars.” It will be a dance competition (Dancing with the Stars style), and I was invited to be one of the stars. I have been learning how to Rumba from my professional dance partner, Nikita Malakhov. I won’t say too much more because I don’t want to give anything away about the performance.J



As promised, I will explain the blue feather and metallic nails. I was invited to a Jersey Couture (Oxygen network) Red Carpet event in New York City. I walked the red carpet (which was really yellow), received a manicure by Minx Nails, had a blue feather clamped into my hair, and was photographed and interviewed. To watch a video of “Stuff Jersey Girls Say” go to  http://www.nj.com/gloucester-county/index.ssf/2012/02/miss_new_jersey_katharyn_nicol_1.html . It was an exciting night meeting the many fascinating New York celebrities.

Last week I attended an event hosted by the organization, Weddings for Heroes. They provide charitable wedding services programs (awarding sponsored weddings)  in the form of weddings, wedding services, wedding receptions, ceremonies or vow renewals, to combat wounded U.S. military personnel, U.S combat veterans and active duty military facing hardships, or otherwise underprivileged at no cost to them. The event was held in Red Bank, NJ at the Oyster Point Hotel. If you would like more information about this worthy organization please go to:  http://www.weddingsforheroes.org/
It is remarkable how the local pageant season has already come to an end, and we now know all 25 girls that will be competing for Miss New Jersey 2012. The last two girls to be crowned were Samantha Mason, Miss Cumberland County and Olivia Michael, Miss Stars and Stripes. They are new to the organization, and we welcome them to the family.


I recently wrote an article for my church newsletter and thought that I would include it in my blog.

Miss America Reflections
By Katharyn Nicolle, Miss New Jersey

I think for a lot of people, we wonder sometimes what it would be like to have a fabulous high profile life style just like the celebrities we read and hear so much about. From the time I arrived in Vegas, I got to see what that was like. Living in a hotel room, constantly being surrounded by security, and people ogling at you everywhere you go was so very different from the life I am familiar. However, there were so many times throughout the ten days in Las Vegas that I couldn’t help but feel like I was a part of something truly great and much bigger than myself. Miss America is the culmination of a year’s worth of hard work by more than twelve thousand women throughout the United States. It is about representing those young women and everything that they have accomplished, learning new skills that can be used for the rest of our lives, gaining confidence to stand on a stage and showcase our talent, be comfortable enough to wear a swimsuit on a stage with four inch heels, promoting some type of cause that we are truly passionate about, and earning scholarship to continue our education. That ten days in Vegas was just a highlight of the kind of women that are everywhere in our country, working every day to uphold everything Miss America stands for. So to start off I could not be more honored and humbled to have been one of the last 53 contestants standing at the finale of such a year.
Now for the fun stuff: We kicked off the week at out arrival ceremony at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino. Everyone was wearing outfits from Express which is Miss America’s newest clothing sponsor. It was done Bachelor style, with each girl being presented with a rose. The next morning was a Children’s Miracle Network/IHOP pancake breakfast. There were quite a few Miracle Kids from the Las Vegas area to help us make and then demolish pancakes. A little boy named Chris sat at my table with his parents and he was excited to have the morning off from school and spend time with the Miss America contestants. Then we were all headed to rehearsal where we spent most of our time. We had three preliminary shows to put on not to mention the final night show which would be broadcast live on ABC. I was pulled out of the second day of rehearsals to first get my hair and makeup done by the Express runway crew, and then I did an interview with Tall Pony, our production team. After that I was interviewed by Amway who provides scholarships for the Miss America pageant, but also is the official skincare sponsor of Miss America through Artistry by Amway. Friday night we were all taken to The Venetian to watch Phantom of the Opera.  I already loved the show, but I have to say Vegas has a way of kicking up the drama. Everything from the costumes and set to the special effects were spectacular. Saturday night we were models in an Express fashion show. Sunday was a very long day because we were all over the city of Las Vegas filming the opening that was played on the final night. It was very exciting because we got a chance to see first- hand what it was like to film a music video.
Monday was the official start of the competition. I had my private judges’ interview. The judges were Mark Ballas, Raúl de Molina, Mike Fleiss, Kris Jenner, Teri Polo, Chris Powell, and Lara Spencer. I loved my interview and was asked a range of questions from what inspired my platform, my thoughts on Chinese/US relations, and what my hypothetical red carpet gown would look like. It was not until after my interview I realized, “Wow, I cannot believe I was just interviewed by those people.” Another very exciting thing happened on Monday. I found out that my favorite author, Orson Scott Card, found out I was competing and sent me a signed copy of my favorite book, Ender’s Game. He reminded me that happiness does not lie in the votes of others. They were perfect words of wisdom for that week.
Tuesday was the first day of preliminary competition. I performed my talent, ballet en pointe to the theme of Superman. Wednesday, I answered my onstage question regarding my platform “Reading for the Right Reasons,” and Thursday I had the swimsuit and evening wear competition. My favorite part of the competition was evening wear just because there is no other moment in my life which I have felt more confident and beautiful as when I walked across the Miss America stage. I wish that every girl could experience that at some point in her life.
Friday night there was a gala to say goodbye to Teresa Scanlan, Miss America 2011. Then Saturday was the big day. One of the girls that we had just gotten to know over the past 10 days was going to be the new Miss America! The show started out electric. Unfortunately, I did not make the first cut, but I enjoyed watching the top 15 become 13 and then 10 to 5. You don’t know who to root for because you consider every single one of them your sister. In the end, Laura Kaeppeler from Wisconsin became Miss America 2012. She is certainly a worthy winner, and I am proud to call her my Miss America. There are quite a few times during that competition when you worry about how you are doing or are uncertain about what will happen. One thing that the contestants constantly talk about is the fact that God has a plan for each of us and as long as we trust in that, the outcome of the competition will be right and good.
Until next time,
Katharyn Nicolle
Miss New Jersey


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