Graduation!

After a beautiful commencement ceremony at UB's Alumni Arena, I am officially a Canisius College graduate!

It's GO time!

I'm back! After a few months of really hard work, I can FINALLY say I am a graduate (with honors!) from Canisius College and an official certified Athletic Trainer (ATC) as I passed my boards! I will walk at graduation this coming Saturday and I can not wait to celebrate all of my hard work... what a relief! But.. now the ever important preparations for Miss NY take the forefront. It's GO time!


Here is some of what I have been doing the past month or so:


Dyngus Day: April 25
It was an honor to be part of one of the world's most popular Dyngus Day parades, right in the heart of Buffalo, NY! The parade, run by Dyngus Day Buffalo and Dyngus Day USA, promotes public awareness of Buffalo as the Dyngus Day Capital of the World. It is the goal of the organization to grow Dyngus Day through public awareness and education and to promote Polish customs with accuracy, integrity, and liveliness. Dyngus Day USA is an ongoing contributor to the promotion and development of Polish American culture throughout North America. Jeszcze Polonia Nie Zginęła!

Visit to KED & Renaissance Campus:
The mission of the Kids Escaping Drugs organization is to raise, manage and distribute funds for the development and support of facilities, education and prevention programs for adolescents and their families in Western New York suffering from alcohol and drug dependency/addiction. The Campus consists of three buildings that house up to 62 chemically-dependent youths ages 12 to 20. Renaissance House is a 30 bed intensive treatment facility for boys, Stepping Stones is a 16 bed girls' residence which combines both inpatient and continuum of care programs while Promise House is a 16 bed continuum of care residence for boys. Visiting the campus and learning about just how much of a problem substance abuse is in the WNY area, primarily in middle and High School aged kids, was a real eye opener and certainly instilled a greater drive for me to make an impact with my platform of Peer, Community & Family Influence on Curbing Substance Abuse. My visit allowed me to connect with members of the organization in a capacity that will allow me to do this and for that I am excited and grateful. This trip was a success!


CMN Bachelor Auction in Corning
This has been one of the most fun appearances I have had thus far! It was awesome to connect with the community in which my title represents along with raising just over $3,000 for the Children's Miracle Network! I escorted the handsome bachelors along with Miss FL 2010 Amy Valenti, Miss Greater Rochester 2011 Chelsea Prophet, and Stacey Minchin Miss NY International. Our choreographed dances and skits down the runway stole the show and helped to show the ladies how worthy these guys were of bidding on!

Kids Escaping Drugs & NHS Walk for Kids: For 19 years, the Kids Escaping Drugs Campaign and the local National Honor Society chapters have been working together to raise over $280,000 for Renaissance Campus with the Walk for Kids event! This year's walk was held at Canisius College's Koessler Athletic Center, which was especially cool for me because as a Sports Medicine major I have spent a lot of time there and it was a great last memory to create there. I worked the raffle table and was so lucky to have met Josh who is a graduate of Renaissance House and who shared his story of triumph over addiction with me. He was  beyond inspiring and someone that I will continue to confide in for help with work related to my platform. The entire event was so well put together and an amazing way for High School kids to do their part to support substance abuse awareness and help put an end to the ever prevalent issue that they experience among their peers on a daily basis!

So now that I am caught up you can expect regular updates with a lot of fun stuff!
XO,
Charlotte

Time is flying!

On March 25 I had an appearance at the 2011 Buffalo Motorama which was held at the Buffalo Niagara Convention center as an employee of People, Inc.volunteering/Miss FL. We teamed up with Airport Plaza Jewelers who purchased a ton of chocolate for People, Inc. to sell through the Easter holiday. Last year, over $25,000 was donated to People, Inc (Western New York's leading human services agency), as television's most well-known jeweler, Don Hoffman, allowed the agency to transform his large "The Showroom" facility in the Airport Plaza into a chocolate store, selling delicious Fowler's Chocolate Easter candy. Hoffman donated his building, staff, and three weeks of advertising time towards the successful project. 100% of net proceeds went to People Inc. (Twenty-Five Thousand Dollars!). This year's fund-raiser promises to be bigger and better, especially with the half-hour show dedicated to promoting the sale and your generous support of it. Visit http://www.thekioskpresents.com/ for more information on how to purchase chocolate or donate to People, Inc.!


The following night I walked in the "A Year Of Inciting The Riot Fashion and Music Mayhem" fashion show for Eurostyle apparel which can be purchased at Splash Panic on Elmwood in Buffalo and at Ooo La La Boutique on Main St. in East Aurora, check it out: Eurostyle Apparel






Also, last night a new Miss Mohawk Valley 2011 was crowned! Unfortunately I was not able to attend due to being sick but I am very excited to welcome Lynn Tryon to the MNY 2011 family! See you next weekend girl! Congratulations to all of the contestants in this year's pageant on a job well done, everyone looked stunning in the pictures I've seen!

More to come soon! XO,
Charlotte

Catch Up

It has been one thing after another for me the past couple of weeks, but I have finally caught a break and am so excited to share some updates! So here we go....

March 13: Miss Greater Rochester Pageant
I was thrilled to be able to attend the Miss GR pageant both because I was a contestant in the past and because this was my very first time being able to sit back and watch a MAO pageant! I met the wonderful Miss Buffalo 2011, Desiree Wiley, who was a pleasure to chat with and share each of our experiences up to this point. Boy, were we in for a treat watching each of the amazing contestants compete in such a well put together event. Katie Martin, Miss GR 2010, was also a pleasure to watch and her story of her involvement in the MAO organization was truly inspirational... it gave me a lot of pride to be in the position that I am and taught me to take advantage of every opportunity that comes my way and to learn from it! As the announcement of the top 3 ladies was about to begin I watched with baited breath because I truly could not have singled out one contestant from the group to be the winner as they all did amazing. When Chelsea Prophet was crowned Miss Greater Rochester 2011 I was so happy for her and so excited to have another Buffalo Area sister join the MNY Class of 2011! Congratulations to Chelsea, all of the contestants in this year's pageant, and Katie for an amazing year.



March 20: Buffalo St Patrick's Day Parade

This year it was such an honor to ride in Buffalo's St. Patrick's Day parade which is the second largest St. Patrick's Day parade in the country! Accompanying me was the Buffalo Jills' Rookie of the Year, Gina Barbera. My brother, Tyler, was nice enough to drive us girls down the parade route (even though I think he had just as much fun as we did and was proud to show off his car more than his sister and Gina!)  It was amazing to see the thousands of people who came out to this event, their amazing reception and excitement when my float went by, and to experience  the general excitement that people in Buffalo have the ability to bring to any occasion.

March 23: Photo session with Shawn Connors
Yesterday I got to see my old friend Shawn Connors and also took some great pictures too! Thank you Shawn! If anyone would like to contact Shawn in order to set up a photo session please contact me (MissFingerLakes2011@gmail.com) and I would be glad to send you his information!

More updates to come after an appearance at the Motorama Auto Show tomorrow as a spokesperson for People, Inc. and walking for Eurostyle Apparel in the "A Year Of Inciting The Riot Fashion and Music Mayhem" show. Click here for more information on attending this event on Saturday, March 26!

XO,
Charlotte

Good Luck Miss Empire Rose / Empire Star contestants!

Good luck to all of the beautiful ladies competing for Miss Empire Rose / Miss Empire Star today! I wish I could be there to cheer you all on! Be you, show the judges what you are truly passionate about, put everything you have into your talent, and smile your biggest smile possible... and you're all bound to do great! I am looking forward to hearing how well each of you did and to having a new sister in the Miss NY family!

XO, Charlotte

Paradigm Shift

I am currently taking a Leadership & Motivation class this spring semester and so far it has proven to be very useful in both analyzing and improving upon my behavior in those two areas. We are reading the book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey and I absolutely suggest picking up a copy to anyone and everyone! Today in class we talked about paradigms, the way in which you perceive the world, and paradigm shifts. I found that one particular story in this chapter struck a chord for me... So, I wanted to share it!

"   Two battleships assigned to the training squadron had been at sea on maneuvers in heavy weather for several days. I was serving on the lead battleship and was on watch on the bridge as night fell. The visibility was poor with patchy fog, so the captain remained on the bridge keeping an eye on all activities.
  Shortly after dark, the lookout on the wing of the bridge reported, "Light, bearing on the starboard bow."
  "Is it stead or moving astern?" the captain called out.
   Lookout replied, "Stead, captain," which meant we were on a dangerous collision course with that ship.
   The captain then called to the signalman, "Signal that ship: We are on a collision course, advise to change course 20 degrees."
   Back came a signal, "Advisable for you to change course 20 degrees."
   The captain said, "Send, I'm a captain, change course 20 degrees."
   "I'm a seaman second class," came the reply. "You had better change course 20 degrees."
   By that time, the captain was furious. He spat out, "Send, I'm a battleship. Change course 20 degrees."
   Back came the flashing light, "I'm a lighthouse."
   We changed course."

The degree to which our mental maps accurately describe the territory does not alter its existence.

XO, Charlotte

Quotes

Today I read a few quotes that I found inspiring and thought I would share! What do these mean to you?

"If you want to be ahead of the competition, fearlessly be yourself"

"What defines you is who you are when no one is looking"

"The only thing that stops me from my highest potential is me. Today I will be bold and follow my bliss."