national – Page 15 – Matt Leverton’s National American Miss (NAM) Pageants Blog

2009 South Carolina National American Miss Stephanie Hall Changing Lives

While I was at the national pageant I had the pleasure to speak with South Carolina’s Miss, Stephanie Hall. She told me all about the events she has attending and appearances she has made. Below is one special story that she wanted to share.

        Visiting the residents at Skylyn Place Retirement Home has been one of my favorite things to do as Miss SC. My first time visiting was a blast! I met many of the sweet residents, took lots of pictures with them, and got to know a little bit about each one of them. I sat down with some of them while they played games and watched television. I made lots of new friends!

        We had such a great time on my first visit I was invited to come back for their Christmas party a few weeks later! At the party I visited with some of my new friends, met all of the other residents, and even met some of their family members. Of course, we took lots of pictures, too! I was given the awesome opportunity of speaking to everyone there about myself and my platform, breast cancer awareness. Then we sang Christmas carols and chowed down on some yummy desserts. One lady challenged me to a dance-off to see if she could win my crown! But I told her I’d better not agree to that because she would probably win.

       Volunteering with this amazing group of people has been such a rewarding experience! I showed up at Skylyn Place with the intention of encouraging the people there, and they ended up encouraging me! So many of the residents do not ever have visitors, and I really enjoyed spending time with them. The staff is great, too, and I plan on going back very soon!

National American Miss Jr. Teens rock it out on Band Hero during the National Pageant

Band Hero Taylor Swift National American Miss

Check the Jr. Teens rocking out to Taylor Swift’s “You Belong To Me” at NAM’s national pageant.

Gabriella Torkornoo, Miss Oregon Princess, served food to the homeless

Gabriella Torkornoo, Miss Oregon Princess, served food to the homeless for a project called “Under the Bridge” this past October . It was put on by a local church in her hometown of Eugene, OR. There were close to 200 people that showed up to receive a hot meal, have a haircut, have bikes repaired, and to get clothes that were donated for the event. A local new station covered the story. Gabriella stood in the serving line and handed out big handfulls of chips to everyone who came through. This was a great experience for her, and she looks forward to doing it again next year!

Charlotte Norsworthy, The March of Dimes and National American Miss

I am so proud of Charlotte Norsworthy! Check out the letter from the March of Dimes that I received.

On behalf of the March of Dimes Georgia Chapter, we are delighted to have Charlotte Norsworthy serve as a passionate ambassador in our mission to improve the health of all babies by preventing birth defects, prematurity and infant mortality. With great leadership, compassion and generosity, Charlotte has dedicated her voice and her actions in helping raise awareness and critical funds for babies born prematurely, like her brother Tillman and the baby sister she lost.

Prematurity is the most serious, common and costly problem facing newborns and obstetricians in America with more than 500,000 babies born too soon or sick. In Georgia, the premature birth rate increased nearly 24% between 1996 and 2006. 30,000 babies will die before their first birthday.

In just a very short amount of time, Charlotte has made a lasting and significant difference in the lives of families and babies here in Georgia:

· She has donated a portion of her winnings from the Miss Pre-Teen Georgia pageant to the March of Dimes Georgia Chapter.

· With great poise and sincerity, she delivered a touching television appearance on Fox 5 Atlanta to launch our Prematurity Awareness Campaign this November.

· Through her Bundles for Babies initiative, she delivered more than 60 blankets to families at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Atlanta Medical Center, Grady Hospital and Memorial Hospital in Savannah.

· She won over hearts at our Savannah Signature Chefs event this month with her message of hope.

Every baby is a miracle, and we can think of no greater issue than the health of our children. Charlotte is a shining example of one young person making a huge difference in the lives of many. Her efforts also move us closer to our vision of a day when every family will know the joy of a healthy baby.

Sincerely,

Laura Johnson

Director of Field Services

Riley Yates, SC Junior Preteen National American Miss Queen

Riley Yates, SC Junior Preteen National American Miss Queen. She has been busy raising money for a great organization and walking for the cure. She walked with the Longs Drugs Team for the First Ladies Walk For Life on October 3rd. She has also raised over $1500 for the Lay Me Down To Sleep Foundation. Riley is now preparing for the biannual “Nutcracker Fantasy”, a fundraiser for the local children’s shelter where she is a featured soloist and principal cast member. She has been enjoying long weekend rehearsals with her dance friends for a great cause!

We are in the new office!

I am so excited to announce that we moved into our new office in Nashville! We are located in the historic Customs House in downtown Nashville. Our new address is:

National American Miss

701 Broadway

Suite B-14

Nashville, TN 37203

If you in downtown Nashville anytime, come by and say hi!

~Matt

North Carolina Junior Pre-Teen National American Miss Queen, Tara-Nicole Azarian

Tara-Nicole Azarian, founder of the Tara’s Teddys organization (www.TarasTeddys.com) recently participated in a fundraiser for the Preston Loyd foundation (http://www.quickitright.com/prestonloydfoundation/). She and her mom both painted faces & polished fingernails for the Princess for a Day booth. $400 was raised in one afternoon for Preston & his family. The fundraiser was featured on local Fox news. Tara-Nicole also made a Tara’s Teddy visit to Preston’s home & delivered a huge brown bear to Preston & also brought one for Preston’s 8 year old sister Taylor. (see photo)

In addition, Tara-Nicole has made personal appearances at:

The Miss Charlotte USA pageant, The Cabarrus County Fair Pageant, Freestyle Amusement park & was featured in the Mooresville Tribune.

She also continues her acting & over the summer & this fall she has filmed or will finish filming the following movies: “Katy Dee Girl Detective”, “Budz”, “On The Market”, “Demonica’s Reign”, “Crossroads, Legend of The Oracle Stone”, “Champagne” & “Judith”.

Pageant Scores Are Out!

Dear 2009 National American Miss State Finalists:

We are proud to announce that all of the pageant score reports were mailed this week. That’s for all states produced by the Nashville office: Oregon, Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

The last of the score reports completed on October 5, woo hoo!

The National American Miss score reports are like no other to be found anywhere in pageantry. However, they are a lot like the ones you get at home from the standardized aptitude testing you get at school. That is the format after which our score reports were first patterned when statisticians developed the reports for us twelve years ago.

It’s an individualized comprehensive score report prepared for each and every contestant, compiling and displaying, averages, and quartile breaks (based on the bell curve) for each and every age group. That’s a checked and double checked compilation of thousands of individual scores from the judges. Thankfully, the computer programs do all the work.

Watch for your personalized score report in the mail over the next several days!

Congratulations to all the 2009 State Finalists for a job well done

~Matt

Golfing reminds me that October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

breast_cancer I love to play golf, if I could I would play everyday. My dream retirement would be the old man that sits at the first tee with an Arnold Palmer in hand and tells each group that it’s their turn to go. (That job is called “the starter” for all you non-golfers, and an Arnold Palmer is half lemonade and half ice tea, named for the famous golfer who invented it)

Anyways, this past golf season the #2 golfer in the world, Phil Mickelson, took time off the the tour to care for his wife, Amy, who had been diagnosed with Breast Cancer. In this tragedy, Phil saw an opportunity to educate a group normally not exposed to breast cancer awareness, so this leads me to pass this information on to you.

The National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM) program is dedicated to increasing awareness about the importance of the early detection of breast cancer through a nationwide campaign held in October. NBCAM started as a week long campaign in 1985 with 2 founding members. Today the American Cancer Society is one of many national public service organizations, professional associations, and government agencies that form the NBCAM Board of Sponsors. During NBCAM, the member organizations of the Board of Sponsors join forces to spread the message that early detection of breast cancer followed by prompt treatment saves lives. (Credit American Cancer Society)

Many National American Miss contestants, queens, cover girls and families have volunteered at events, participated in walks and spoken at events to raise awareness of this important issue. Take the time this month to find out how to get involved, find out how to make a difference, find out how to raise awareness!

~Matt

Here’s a good place to get started: http://www.nbcam.org/ or http://ww5.komen.org/

NAM Oregon Princess Queen Gabriella Torkornoo volunteered at the Oregon state fair

Oregon Princess Queen Gabriella Torkornoo volunteered at the Oregon state fair as a greeter and handed out programs on Aug. 28, 2009. She enjoyed being the official greeter at the front Gate on opening day of the fair. This State fair marked Oregon’s 150th anniversary! Gabriella handed out programs and got her picture taken for the local newspaper. It was a long day standing in the rain at times, but the happy face never left this 5 year old. That same evening she was invited to hand out winning ribbons at the horse show that was held at the fair. The emcee of the show commented that he was impressed at how comfortable and professional she seemed while getting her pictures taken with the winners and their horses. He said “Not many adults, let alone children I’ve seen are that comfortable standing next to a horse”. Gabriella’s mother told me “I was happily surprised to see Gabriella act so professional and enjoy what she was doing. It seemed like she was an old pro at it. What a great feeling it is to see your child blossom right in front of your eyes! What a joy it is to watch them find something they are really good at and enjoy! Thank you NAM for giving Gabriella this opportunity and allowing me to see her run with it!”