I look back at my life and everything I been through and at this point I give myself a pat on the back for my accomplishments big and small, my most recent accomplishment being selected as Ms. Iowa American Coed 2011.
For those of you who are not familiar with American Coed pageants, you can visit http://www.gocoed.com/. I will tell you that it is a great pageant system and that is where I got my start in pageants and this pageant is the one that brought me out of my shell to be the woman I am today. You can say that is one of the goals of the pageant is to mold girls to be successful women to go after their dreams and accomplish great things. This pageant ranges from ages 3-22, with the divisions of Princess, Sweetheart, Pre-Teen, Jr. Teen, Teen and Coed (not boy girl). Within the past few years they have added some exciting new divisions. One of those divisions being the Ms. Division which is what I qualify for now. There was not a state pageant for my division so I was selected through an application process. So now my journey begins to prepare for nationals at Walt Disney World!!!! (anyone that knows me knows that I am a HUGE Mickey Mouse fan)
Each national qualifying contestant is required to sell 2 pages of advertising for the National Program Book. This money pays for the scholarships and awards that are given and the costs to put on the pageant. I was very surprised when I competed at nationals as a Kentucky Coed queen back in 2003 how nice these books were. Not one of those things you just throw away... I still have mine from 2003! Many people are confused when you say you are selling ads. It was VERY hard to get that first page sold. Businesses can buy advertising space to put anything they want, such as logos or business contact information, or a good luck message to the contestant of their state. I will say that these pages are not just for businesses. ANYBODY can buy any size space from a business size card size to a full page and put whatever they want in it. Many families buy space to wish their family members who are contestants good luck or to put quotes and special messages to let them know they are thinking about them during their preparations for the competition. I was very fortunate to have one of the organizations that I work with for my platform to buy space and some friends who work at or own businesses to buy space. I also found it appropriate to purchase space for myself so that I could thank all those who had helped me during my journey at any point during my pageant career. Afterall, I am declaring this my last pageant competition.
Now for a new twist on my second page (gotta meet a July 1st deadline). For those of you who don't know or don't follow my blog or have not read the DeWitt Observer newspaper article, "I am my platforms" With that being said, the one I deal with personally on an everyday basis is my depression. For that reason I am very passionate about my platform and want to raise awareness of this issue that nobody likes to talk about and that has some serious sterotypes that I would like to change and get more people to be more open about such as myself. I am now at a point in my life where I can be open and I am comfortable with who I am and what I deal with. I feel like now that it is only appropriate, that I dedicate my second page to my platform. I want to put out there some very real statistics and I want to show anyone who picks up this program book what I stand for besides being a pageant contestant. I feel it is important to raise awareness not just on a local level but a national level and what a great opportunity this would be to do just that.
However, this full page is going to cost $600 total. It is going to take the support of friends and family to get this accomplished. I am confident that I will be able to get this done as I strive for what I want and don't let anything stop me when I want to get something done. My hope is to put my picture, my message and a space to thank all the sponsors of people that wish to donate money to make this page possible. All donations are tax deductible. You can pay directly through the website or by calling the national office. Please visit http://www.gocoed.com/. You will click on national fees and click on advertising. You can only do as low as $60 online, then the prices go up depending on the "size of ad space" which won't apply because I am taking sponsors to help me purchase the full page. That is unless you are a generous sponsor and would like to purchase the full page. :) If you would like to donate smaller amounts please call the national office at 850-432-8662. Whether paying online or by phone the contestant you will be referencing will be Monica Lacovitch. If you have any questions, problems, concerns or anything please feel free to just comment on the post.
As I said before, 2011 is already turning out to be a promising year. It is my hope that I will be able to accomplish the task of raising awareness on Depression and Suicide and to raise money for the organizations that help make programs and screenings possible for those at risk.
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