Hang Up and Drive!

Hello all!

Recently, I have been doing a lot of speaking to college and high school students about my platform, "Hang Up and Drive." I talked to several greek houses at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln, as well as at Weslyan University.  Last week I gave a seminar at the Nebraska DECA State Conference, and today, I spoke at my very own high school, Ralston! It has been great, spreading the word on such an important topic.  I have had over 200 people sign the pledge not to text and drive and my goal is for that number to keep growing and growing as my year goes on! 

Here I am speaking at a wonderful sorority at UNL, Alpha Phi! The girls were so attentive and respectful, I had a great time!

Last weekend, I had the awesome opportunity to give back to the organization that has given so much to me, DECA! I was invited to give a "Hang Up and Drive" seminar at the Nebraska State DECA Conference, and it was so wonderful to see all of the motivated, competitive, and professional high school students and to be able to speak to them on such an important topic!

I thought it was so cute that the DECA mascots finally got official DECA blazers!

Giving my seminar..

Here, I am explaining the activity the kids were about to do.  I had them complete tasks while distracted by something else, to prove that it is hard to focus on more than one thing at a time!

 Here I am with my official name tag that mentioned me as Miss Star City and it had an official "Presenter" tag on the bottom!

 Every year, 2 scholarships are given at the State DECA Conference in my brother's memory.  Here is my brother Ryan and I presenting the awards..

It was so great to be back at the State Conference!

Today, I went back to my home school of Ralston High School! I got to speak to all the the students as well as some of the teachers that I had in high school! It was really cool to be back and I was so excited to even have some of my old teachers sign the pledge not to text and drive!

Couldn't figure out how to flip this picture! But here I am on stage in the Ralston High School Auditorium!

Here are some of the students repeating the pledge after me!

I have much to do still, to prepare for Miss Nebraska in June, but I am happy to be out and about spreading the word on my platform!

That's All For Now!

Rachel

American Heart Association Heart Ball - New York Style!

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to travel to Albany New York to volunteer and perform at the 2011 American Heart Association Heart Ball.  I wouldn't normally travel all the way to New York for something like this, but my sister Tina recently moved out to New York and is in charge of the event.  I had a great time volunteering with some Miss New York USA contestants as well as performing a fire twirling routine in front of all of the Heart Association members, sponsors, volunteers, and families!

My brother in law Christian and I ran the bid boards! It was so fun to get to see him and work with him to raise as much money as possible for the American Heart Association!

The ball was at a beautiful facility called "Hall of Springs" in Saratoga Springs, NY

Here I am with the 2011 Heart Princess, Chloe.  She survived a (could be) fatal heart defect at birth.  She is the reason we have these types of events.  Her story is amazing!

Here I am with the 2010 Heart Princess!

With the doctor to both of the heart princess, this man is a hero!

I had a blast performing my fire twirling routine, as I always do! Here are some photos and a video!

See the video HERE:

I am always very inspired when I attend American Heart Association events such as this one.  The room was filled with amazing people who have either suffered a heart condition, have saved someone that is suffering a heart condition, rise money and donate to the cause, friends, family, and more! Tina has been involved with the AHA for 4 years (first in Omaha, then Lincoln, and now in New York!) I love helping her with the events and being involved with such a great organization!

National Pancake Day!

Last Tuesday, March 1st, was National Pancake Day! IHOP celebrates every year by teaming up with the Children's Miracle Network and gives a free stack of pancakes to those who give a small donation.  The Miss America Organization is a partner with the Children's Miracle Network, so my fellow Miss Nebraska contestants and I worked to serve pancakes, welcome people to IHOP, and help spread the word about CMN! Here are some Photos!

Mindy and I with two little girls that were so happy to see the "princesses" 

Mindy and I got the opportunity to meet a Miracle Kid! This is what makes what we do worth it, to see the real kids who have benefitted from the Children's Miracle Network.  He is just one of many thankful children.

Free pancakes!

Some of the Miss Nebraska contestants that Volunteered!

Mindy and I at the donation box

Juggling as many pancakes as I can!

All of the volunteers!

Overall, the IHOP event was an awesome experience! It gave us a chance to meet with some of the kids that we work to raise money for! It also allowed us to do good in the community (everyone loves free pancakes!) Such a fun day!

Traveling, Twirling, and Teaching!

 Hello all!

I have been busy the past couple weeks! I prepared for the International Twirling Championships in Florida (Twirl Mania), I volunteered for a local girl scout troop, I have gotten new head shots, I got to see teresa Scanlan, Miss America, and I have been speaking at greek houses on the UNL campus!  I have a lot more coming up in the next month, but I wanted to catch up on my blogging and post some pictures of what I have been up to!

Last weekend I went to Florida to compete against the baton twirlers from all of the universities around the country! I represented Nebraska and twirled to the favorites, Hail Varsity and No Place Like Nebraska!  I ended up making the finals! That means I got to perform in front of the general public at Epcot! So much fun! :) Other areas of competition took place at the ESPN Wide World of Sports, which was also a ton of fun!

Once competition was over, my mom and I took an afternoon to visit the Magic Kingdom, we went on all of the classic rides like Small World, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Peter Pan.  We also got to see the amazing "Dreams" firework show as well as the beautiful night parade!

When I got back from Florida, I had a busy week of catching up on my school work! I had time however, to spend time with a local girl scout troop and teach them some fun baton tricks! The girls were a ton of fun! Here we are making a twirling circle! :)

The girls learned new tricks and had a blast, and so did I!

Here we are together after the class, I had so much fun teaching these little ones, I remember when I learned my first twirling tricks! 

A few weeks ago, I got some head shots taken, and a few of them turned out really well! I hope you like them!

Saturday night, I had a blast at the Miss America Homecoming Dinner! It was so much fun to see Teresa, our very own Miss America! Other contestants from Miss America as well as the Nebraska and America board members were also there to help celebrate the homecoming of Teresa! It was so good to see her and to see that she is doing so well representing our state and country!

Thats all for now!