This past weekend, I drove 2 hours to the Billings airport to catch my flight to Denver to meet with my interview coach and to speak at the Leadership classes at the University of Denver! It was so much fun and so beneficial in my preparation for Miss America! I was able to meet with my interview coach a couple of times this weekend, and am starting to make a lot of progress! I really appreciate his approach because it really focuses on being an individual and even more on the proper mindset and attitude to approach this whole thing with.
One of the first things I did in Denver was go to Whole Foods–my favorite store ever–for their famous fish tacos! 🙂 Then, I met up with my friends from the University of Denver and hit the Park Meadows and Cherry Creek Malls to search for the perfect interview outfit for Miss America. Of course, as usually happens when you are actually looking for something, I found nothing suitable! Haha, oh well! I will just continue my search at the Galleria next month when I am in Houston!
After my search for the interview dress, I went to the University of Denver–my alma mater–to speak to the Pioneer Leadership Program Sophomore Class about their HUGE Community Change Initiative Projects they will be working on this entire year. I talked about my sophomore Community Change Initiative, which was called Project H2O. In Project H2O, my team members and I were able to teach residents of the rural Ixcan region of Guatemala how to build bio-sand filters to provide themselves with clean, potable water. Our project has been very successful and sustainable, for when members of the University of Denver go there each year to check on the project’s progress, they have found that the bio-sand filters are spreading all over the region, for the residents are teaching other villages how to build them. I also spoke about my personal platform and, of course, they were all interested to know about Miss Montana and Miss America. That afternoon, I was able to meet up with one of my dear family friends, Ron, to talk about Miss America and life in general, and that evening I met with my interview coach.
The next day, I woke up bright and early to meet with my interview coach again and then went back to the University of Denver to speak to the second section of sophomore Pioneer Leadership Program students, then headed off to the airport to catch my flight home!
My weekend in Denver was absolutely amazing and so beneficial! Thank you to the Pioneer Leadership Program at the University of Denver for making such a difference in my life and letting me hopefully make a difference in the lives of future student, as well as to my most AMAZING freshman-year roommate, and dear, dear friend Jess for letting me camp out with her!!
Miss Montana 2009 
That project sounds like nothing we ever did at MSUBillings. At age 20 you made an important difference in many people’s lives, and still are doing so today. I can’t even imagine what the future holds for you, young lady.