This weekend I attended two events that followed the same theme, giving!  On Friday morning I headed over to Farmingdale State University and attended the Long Island Volunteer Fair! I've worked with the LIVC before at PS 174, so I was excited to be able to see some familiar faces, and continue to work with them on their mission in sending school supplies to Mumbai! At the fair, I met so many more organizations that I plan on working with in the future. The first is a group called The Book Fairies. They collect and distribute gently used books to schools and communities in need. I hope to set up an evening of reading, or a book drive. Their mission aligns perfectly with my platform and career goal of literacy and equitable funding for all schools. I hope to also team up with the EAC for a night of literacy and empowerment through education. I'm so glad I had the opportunity to network and find organizations that align with my goals for our future. 
At the Long Island Volunteer fair I also had the opportunity to pick out the tickets for the raffle prizes. I had a great time meeting all the prize winners, especially the winner of the cheese basket. I literally cheesed with the cheese.  :-) 
The next morning I woke up bright and early to head to Staten Island to attend the first ever Miss America Serves day! Many of the city title holders attended the "Day at the Races" at the Silver Lakes Specialized Care Center. I had a really fun day with my sisters and I also enjoyed meeting the residents at SLSCC. One resident in particular spoke Italian. Although I don't speak Italian, we had a great conversation about what it means to be bilingual, and how important it is to learn about other cultures in the United States. She taught me some Italian which was so exciting because learning new languages is a passion of mine. I told her all about my Spanish studies at Hofstra University. It's always exciting when you can bond with someone about a mutual passion. 
We had a really fun time playing "A Day at the Races" with the residents! I was a part of team #2... And our team won the first round! Luck of the Irish? I think so! Everyone was so excited to see what number would come up on the die next. I took as many opportunities as possible to take pictures with the residents who were on my team... I think I may have a new lucky number...! 

This weekend was the workshop for the Miss NY 2015 pageant. Of course I wasn't sure what to expect being that this is my first year as a local title holder for the Miss America Organization. I hadn't met any of the contestants in person, and I knew that many of the girls knew each other from previous years of competition. I was indeed a newbie, but I was hoping there would be others too, so that we'd be newbies together!
The workshop began on Friday morning when we met to head to the Capitol. Fortunately, I made friends quickly, and found that I have so much in common with many of the contestants! Gingers stick together, and I enjoyed the ride on the limo bus to the Capitol with two other red-heads by my side! 

When we arrived at the Capitol, we received a tour of the incomplete, but beautiful building! You'd never realize that there's more work to be done because the architecture is so unbelievably breathtaking. We were instructed multiple times to look up at the details of the ceiling. What was so funny about this is that all the ladies held onto their crowns as they looked up! I wasn't expecting the building to be as beautiful and rich with art history as it was. I'm thrilled that we learned so much about it! During our tour we visited the Assembly Chamber, The Million Dollar Staircase,  and also learned about the legend of the curse of the Capitol building! I'm so glad I had the opportunity to share this experience with my new sisters.

Next we headed back onto the bus to return to the hotel. Unfortunately our trip to the CMN hospital was canceled, but we had the opportunity to do something else instead. Although we couldn't physically visit the children, we made get well cards that will be sent to the young patients in the hospital along with gifts! 

To wrap up Friday, we all enjoyed dinner at Prime in Saratoga. The dinner was AMAZING! I recommend it to anyone who's hungry and wants their tastebuds to sing ;-) 
What was so great about this dinner is that I found I had the opportunity to bond with more of my sisters. Kyanna is also a hoop dancer, so we had fun talking all about hooping and learning how to hoop. It's not as easy as it looks, and it takes a lot of dedication, and a lot of bruises to master the art of hoop dance! 

And then before you know it, it was Saturday morning! We woke up early to attend a seminar with Don Baker! He talked to us about being job prepared rather than being pageant prepared. Who's ready for the job of Miss New York? After getting to know many of my sisters, I think all of these ladies are. The judges are going to have an extremely hard time in June! 
During this time we also picked our roommate for the pageant... And I will be rooming with Kyanna! We're already speaking about keeping our hoops together in our room, and we're excited to spend the entire week with one another! 
After this we took a large group picture and learned the opening number dance... And here we are... The Miss New York Class of 2015! Can you find me? :) :)

Soon after we headed to the Miss New York's Outstanding Teen 2015 pageant. What was so fun about the pageant is how excited the enitre audience was to cheer on their contestants. I don't have a teen, so I adopted many and joined the ladies in cheering on every contestant. I had the opportunity to take a picture with Miss New York, as well as near the banner with the five points of the Miss America Organization. Living my life with Style, Service, Scholarship, and Success! 

And of course here comes a huge congratulations to our new Miss New York's Outstanding Teen 2015...Alisa Vasquez! She shined on stage, and I was so happy to be able to share in her excitement! I can't wait to follow her year! 

We finished our weekend off with a fitting for our Kandice Pelletier swimwear! I was sad to say goodbye to some of my new friends, but I know I'm going to see them again in just seven short weeks... Soon enough we will find out who will be the next Miss NY America... So what do you think? Who will she be?