The Award I Never Thought Would Come My Way

Two weeks ago at the Miss Central States Fair pageant, I won an award that I never imagined I'd win, not even at a local pageant. I won the talent award.

I have always seen my talent as a weakness, and it has always been the area of competition I worry about the most. I cannot sing or dance, the talent that seems to dominate the Miss America stage. All I can do is talk. So I've tried to spice it up every way possible, to make it seem more like a true "talent." Everything from poetry to auctioneering and even a civil rights speech that was comprised of three famous speeches. But all of them seemed to fall short. At the end of the night, I'd win interview, and then nothing. I just could not seem to get it right.

Miss Colorado performing her talent at Miss America.

Then I sat down and thought long and hard about what I was doing wrong. I watched Miss Colorado, Kelley Johnson's Miss America monologue over and over again. What was it that made her's so successful? And then it hit me, she was being 100% herself. All of my talents were what I had thought the judges and audience wanted to hear, not what I wanted them to hear.

As I prepared for Miss Central States Fair, I looked through my blogs, trying to see what exactly I wanted to talk about. I came across this post from October, http://thefarmingbeautyqueen.blogspot.com/2015/10/just-trying-to-live-childhood-dream.html. I decided then and there I was going to talk about all the things that may have contributed to my dreams of becoming an "American Dairy Farmer," the title of my monologue.

Me and my heifer, Midnight.

In the Saturday pageant, Miss Rapid City, I did not win talent, but I did happen to take home the interview award. And at the end of the night, I had people coming up to me saying "you're the dairy girl, I loved what you said up there." By being truly myself, the audience could see my passion and see the personal side of being a dairy farmer. And Sunday, when I won that talent award, I was beyond shocked, and so honored to have shared my story (in a minute and a half), to yet another audience.

Performing my talent on Sunday.

I cannot wait to share my passion with more people throughout my year as Miss Central States Fair. Now you know why I compete and why I LOVE the Miss America Organization.