Post-Miss America: The Quick & Dirty Rundown

Almost three months of no activity on this blog... Well, that doesn’t look very good. 

I have been busy though! Some of you may have heard that I went to a little thing called: Miss America. 

After a fun dinner and games at Chickie's & Pete's 

The unveiling of the Miss America statue

Finals night

Turns out that prepping for Miss America in three months while working and being a student is not easy. Since I’ve been home, I’ve gotten right back into the thick of things. Unlike many of my (probably smarter) Miss America sisters- I did not take a year off from school. I drove back the day after finals and was on the Children’s Miracle Network floor in my scrubs at 6:45am on Tuesday. Rough. 

It has taken me weeks to finally feel like I have my feet under myself again and can once again juggle school, Miss Vermont, volunteering and a job. Now I can get to things that do not have influence on my ability to graduate- like thank you cards, replacing the windshield wipers on my car and blogging. I have big plans to procrastinate in the future by blogging- no more of this once every three months things! 

Let’s get a few well known facts out of the way: 

1. The women at who I spent two jam-packed weeks with are amazing.

Rocking out to Guitar Hero

With some of my sisters

Relaxing between shoots for the live show

A really tough job: riding the ferris wheel

2. I was sleep deprived for two weeks- but that just increased the bonding.  

3. Atlantic City TURNED IT OUT for us. I’m very sure that is the only time in my life when I will have a police escort that stops traffic (well- make that pretty sure, we can’t count anything out yet).  

At the Phillies vs. Braves game             

4. I am so thrilled for our new Miss America, Nina!

Miss America 2014

There isn’t much of an expectation for Vermont to make a huge splash at Miss America. I wanted to be the first person from Vermont to make finals at Miss America- but that wasn’t in the cards for me (Looks like it’s up to my successor!). After the initial feeling of disappointment- I looked around the stage and saw the other amazing women I had the privilege to share the stage with that didn’t make finals either- and I felt much better about the whole scenario. It’s cliche- but every one of those women who were going to change into their “non-finalist outfit” with me were qualified to be Miss America- and their states are lucky to be able to welcome them home. 

Opening Number

Prelim Night 1: On Stage Question

Prelim Night 2: SS & Evening Gown

Prelim Night 3: Talent

Show us your Shoes Parade

Then I remembered- I’ve been in more pageants than I’ve watched. So I settled in to watch the show. Let me tell you, live television is a whole different beast. During commercial breaks people were screaming and cheering for their contestant. I was lucky that I could see my “Vemront” (Yes, the letters were switched and that’s what it said on national TV... who cares! I had fans there!) crowd to the left of the stage. 

It was so cool to see the days of rehearsals come together to make the fastest pageant I’ve ever seen! I totally forgot that I was a contestant and was watching the show, completely enthralled. I guess I got a little too into it because after the show I looked at my phone and had some text messages from my adored friends that said things like “stop sitting like a bro”. My response? “I wore jeans specifically for that purpose!”. But I digress... 

It was a wonderful end to my pageant career to hold the hands of my Miss America sisters as we all held our breath to see who would be our next Miss America. I was thrilled when Nina became our first Indian-American Miss America- I watched her win at Miss New York earlier that year (and what an amazing welcome I was given there!) and I knew that she was ready and capable of being a spectacular Miss America. My mom knew she has something special from the beginning because after prelims in visitation she told me “Miss New York absolutely rocked it in swimsuit. She was just having the time of her life out there, waving to the crowd and smiling- tomorrow when you do swimsuit, try to do what she did because it was perfect”. She sure knows how to pick a winner. 

Miss America 2014

I need to do the obligatory shout-outs right now: 

I have to give special thanks to people who traveled to Atlantic City to cheer me on- My mom (who disliked pageants until the Miss America system changed her mind), my boyfriend, Sam (who drove to Atlantic City after class and had the student body of the school he teaches at vote for my People’s Choice Video), Rylee Field (who was in my top 5 at Miss Vermont), my roommate, Ashley (who has lived with three Miss Vermonts so she is all over this), Alice McDermott (a former Teen Contestant and future Miss Vermont Contestant) and Brenda (Sam’s mom- a surprise bonus to the crowd!). Miss Vermont 2010, Caroline Bright, was definitely bursting with excitement to finally be able to watch me at Miss America- and she was all over making sure I had everything I needed backstage (she knew the security guards- she had them when she was at Miss America!). Last, but not least, Middlebury Rugby showed up in full force with Dan Khan, Connor Burleigh and Hodge (Dillon, you were missed). 

Dan, Ashley and Sam

I was really hungry...

I have to give extra special appreciation to Emily Millman and Maia Menzel- two of my nursing classmates who took notes for me for two weeks to make sure that I wouldn’t fall on my face if I had to return to school. They also missed a day just to watch me! I’ve spent much of the past few weeks that I’ve been back catching up on work on Emily’s couch. She has a great couch. 

Maia and Emily

Anyway, I have five more great months ahead of me, to fill to the fullest before I crown Miss Vermont 2014 on April 26th at the Barre Opera House. I am so thankful for the experience, meeting new friends and sisters and especially glad to be able to come home and represent Vermont. There really is no place like home. 

Thanks for reading-

Jeanelle 

p.s. All photos courtesy of the Miss America Organization facebook page- check out more photos here