Miss Coon Rapids

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Samantha Phillippi, Miss Coon Rapids 2011
The Miss Coon Rapids pageant occurred on February 4. Congratulations to Samantha Phillippi, the new Miss Coon Rapids 2011! Also congratulations to Meghan Ehlert, Miss Coon Rapids 2010, and Emily Freeh, Miss Coon Rapids Outstanding Teen 2010, on their incredible years of service! Best of luck to them in their future endeavors! I was asked to perform the national anthem and my talent at the pageant as well as conduct a brief interview with Kathryn Knuttilla, one of our emcees for the evening and my former Miss Minnesota! It was wonderful catching up with her! Following the pageant, the enormous crowd of pageant enthusiasts headed to TGI Fridays (probably one of my favorite restaurants) for the after party. I had a great time eating with the Scipioni family! 

Rotary International

One of my favorite things to do as Miss Minnesota is speak at Rotary Club meetings about my platform, "Autism Awareness: The Missing Piece." I focus on three "missing pieces" related to autism: social skills programs in school systems, employment opportunities for people with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and awareness and understanding of the condition. Rotary was founded in 1905 as the world's first service organization, and there are now over 34,000 community-based programs internationally. Rotary members are likeminded in their passion for serving others, and thusly, they are very receptive to my presentation. Thank you to the Waconia and Minneapolis Rotary Clubs for inviting me to speak to your members during the past month.

MusicLink Foundation Event at Mall of America

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On the weekend of February 11, over 230 music students from around the state came to the Mall of America to share their talent while raising funds for the MusicLink Foundation. I was asked by Sue Wege, one of my Miss Minnesota judges and the Director of Regional Coordinators for the MusicLink Foundation, to emcee and perform at the event.

MusicLink has the mission of helping to provide music lessons to children in need. By partnering with teachers, schools and businesses, MusicLink is able to provide lessons, music, practice instruments and Summer Music Camp Scholarships to hundreds of children, who would not otherwise be able to afford them. I personally benefitted from piano and voice lessons as well as summer music camps (at St. Olaf!) when I was growing up. MusicLink ensures that all children have the opportunity to experience the joy of music!

This year the MusicLink Foundation is celebrating its 20th Anniversary. They have set a goal to reach 5,000 students nationwide by the end of 2012 and to have MusicLink programs in all 50 states.  They currently have reached 4,948 students and are in 45 states, so they are on target to reach this goal. In Minnesota alone, there are 95 teachers currently teaching 305 MusicLink students.  Money raised at the Mall of America event will help to bring music education to even more Minnesota students in need. To learn how to support the MusicLink Foundation, please visit www.musiclinkfoundation.org.

KS95 Tour de Grove

On Feburary 15, I attended Tour de Grove, a bike-a-thon fundraiser for Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare and the Children's Cancer Research Fund, hosted by Cottage Grove Middle School and sponsored by KS95. If a student raised a certain amount of money, they were given 15 minutes to ride a stationary bike as many miles as they could for the chance to win prizes. If they raised a larger dollar amount, they won a t shirt and a day at Nickelodeon Universe at the Mall of America. I was so impressed by the enthusiasm of the students! We have some great Minnesota philanthropists in the making! 

Steps of Hope is coming up! March 4 at Ridgedale Mall!

Later that evening, I headed to the Autism Society of Minnesota (AuSM) office in St. Paul for a committee meeting to plan the 12th annual Steps of Hope autism awareness walk, which will take place at Ridgedale Shopping Center on March 4, 2012. Established in 1971, AuSM is an organization of families, educators, care givers, and professionals committed to supporting individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). AuSM exists to enhance the lives of individuals with ASD, and it seeks to realize its mission through education support, collaboration, and advocacy. Steps of Hope is AuSM's largest fund raiser. All proceeds stay in the Minnesota community. There are also numerous autism resources at the walk for families in need of support and people seeking employment or volunteer opportunities. All individuals and teams are welcome. Visit www.ausm.org to learn how to register. Also attending the Steps of Hope walk are TC the Twins mascot, the Vikings Cheerleaders, and yours truly, Miss Minnesota 2011 Natalie Davis! Be there or be square! 

February is I Love to Read Month!
                           -Burroughs Community School in Minneapolis

On February 16, I visited Burroughs Community School to read to elementary aged students. I started out the morning in two special education classrooms, reading to children with autism. I read "Tobin Learns to Make Friends" by Diane Murrell, a book used by many educators to teach social skills to children with autism. The kids enjoyed the book, scooting closer and closer to me as I read it.
I then had some time to visit the kindergarteners while they were in physical education class. Picture this: I walk into the gym to see 30+ kindergarteners running around playing "soccer" with loud rock music playing over the loud speaker. It looked like a scene out of the cartoon "Recess." It was probably the funniest site I have ever seen! The rock music seemed incredibly appropriate for the chaos I observed. However, I have to hand it to the gym teachers; they train those kindergarteners well! Their teacher told them to stop playing soccer and return to their designated sitting places, then they moved to the center of the gym "inside the yellow circle" to come meet Miss Minnesota. We took several group photos and the kids asked some GREAT questions, such as "Are you a REAL princess? Is that a REAL crown? Do you have a king?" 

My favorite conversation of the day:
Child: Do you live in a castle or a house?
Me: I live in a house.
Child: Oh, so you're RICH then?
Me: Nope! I'm a regular girl just like everyone else!
Child: Oh. (Walks away.)
At the end of my visit to Burroughs, I read to Mrs. Butchert's 2nd grade class. I started by asking what their favorite thing about 2nd grade was. The first child raised her hand and said, "Reading!" I said, "Very good! We'll do lots of reading today because it's I Love to Read Month!" The kids must have liked my positive response because every child I called on after that gave the same answer until I finally said, "Okay, let's all say it together: READING!" It was pretty darn cute. We read "My Friend with Autism" by Beverly Bishop. Before I began, I told them about my brother Trevor and what it meant for him to have autism. I was surprised by how many kids had already heard of autism at such a young age. They asked a lot of good questions about autism and about Miss Minnesota. What a great group of kids!
Be sure to read with your child today and every day! First, children learn to read, then they read to learn. Learning to read and loving to read are incredibly important! Thank you, Burroughs Community School, for instilling a love of reading in your students!
 


Comments

Lisa | Labor Posters link
02/28/2012 11:28pm

They looked really great and look at those kids, they are so cute.

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