March 2008
First and foremost – Busy Season is officially over, Woohoo!
This month I had the opportunity to attend the 22nd Benefit on behalf of the Pittsburgh AIDS TaskForce. In 2007 alone, 33.2 million people were living with HIV and 2.1 million people died from AIDS. PATF was founded in 1985, and is dedicated to providing support for people living with HIV and AIDS in Southwestern Pennsylvania and prevention education in the community. Events like this help to promote awareness, but at the same time, provide a sense of hope, as the funds raised will go towards medication and research to help us hopefully find a cure.
As Big Brothers Big Sisters is my platform, I have been involved with the largest annual fundraiser, Bowl for Kids’ Sake, for the past years, but this year I decided to take my involvement in the event to a new level. This year, I assembled a Miss Pennsylvania Scholarship Organization Team, “PA Crownheads” (how appropriate, right?), to bowl alongside my little sister Shawndasia and I. I invited all Miss and Teen Local Titleholders to become a part of the event, and we were lucky enough to have Miss Pennsylvania’s Outstanding Teen, Elena LaQuatra, Miss Moraine State Outstanding Teen, Elissa McCracken, and Miss Richland Area Outstanding Teen, Hannah Pratt all join us for the event! We had a blast and even though we did not have the highest scores, I definitely think that we had the most fun! One thing I will admit is that my practice from playing Nintendo Wii definitely helped my scores this year, as “Bowling” on Wii Sports is one of my favorite games! In my case, practice did not make perfection, but it provided noticeable improvement. For the event, I thought to keep us uniform that we would wear Miss Pennsylvania Scholarship Organization t-shirts, along with our crowns and sashes, but little did we know that at the end of the event, we would be awarded the prize for the “Best Costumes” – what a surprise! In collaboration, all of the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Pittsburgh Bowl for Kids’ Sake events, raised over $160,000 which can help to support roughly 160 matches throughout the Greater Pittsburgh Area, so overall, it was a huge success!
The first Miss Southeastern Pennsylvania Pageant took place this month, and though I was unable to attend, I wanted to congratulate the newly crowned and first Miss Southeastern Pennsylvania, Jenna Knopsnyder, and her Director, Mary Meister on what I have heard to be a fantastic pageant!
At the end of the month, my family and I headed to “Eagles” territory, for the Miss Philadelphia Pageant. It was our first time to attend the pageant, and all I can say is WOW! The Miss Philadelphia Board of Directors put together a fabulous show and has gained support from the city of Philadelphia to help honor and recognize the tradition of the pageant. It was great to catch up with friends from the Philadelphia Family and Miss Pennsylvania, Rachel Brooks, and have the reigning Miss Philadelphia, Miss Kimberly Rogers, dazzle us with her amazing dancing skills! At last year’s Miss Pennsylvania Pageant, I was lucky to have the opportunity to get to know “Kimmie” much better, and I was so glad to have made a new friend! At the end of the evening, Kim crowned Brintha Vasagar, as the new Miss Philadelphia. Congratulations to Brintha, on her new honor, and Kimmie for an outstanding year as Miss Philadelphia.
In closing, I hope the “Easter Bunny” paid a visit to all of you and that you were able to enjoy the holiday with your families and friends. God bless and stay tuned for next month’s update!
Happy Easter,
Jessica Megliss
Miss Three Rivers 2007-2008