.JPG)
Today was the first official day of judging so it seemed like everyone was both excited and nervous. The judging sessions for today was determined by alphabetical order of the states. So my session was the first after lunch. But the start of the day began with a workshop. It was headed up by Crystal, the state coordinator of Nebraska and Autumn, our very own state coordinator from Massachusetts! They planned a “team building” workshop. We began by getting assigned an animal. We had to then make the sound of the animal to find our partner. Luckily, or unluckily, I was a cow so I put out my best moooo to find my partner who ended up being Danielle, Ms. Wheelchair Ohio. We filled out a questionnaire and presented it to our group. We then partnered up with Ms. Wheelchair Texas and New York to come up with some great ideas of what we believe should be the future of the Ms. Wheelchair America pageant. It happened to include a flying wheelchair.
After lunch, I went to wait outside the judges room to be called in. An exciting part of this week that I forgot to mention yesterday is the entire pageant is being taped for a documentary! So I was filmed before and after my interview. Although I cannot reveal the questions, I felt confident in my answers as they were true to myself. It felt relieving to get the first session over with. The second half of the day we were treated to a presentation by Dallas about how he can up with the accessible campground “Meeting the Need” and his other disability organizations. He was very inspiring. The next and final workshop of the day was taught by several martial arts instructors who showed us some interesting self defense maneuvers. I learned that there are pressure points behind both your ears that would drop to you to your knees if I hit them in the right spot. So watch out!
The day ended with the 50’s sock hop night. Everyone looked wonderful with their poodle skirts and colorful scarves. “Shelvis” performed some Elvis/Grease hits and got everyone out on the dance floor. All the contestants danced the night away and seemed to have a great time. I’m off to bed because I have an early judging session and more workshops. I’ll let you know how tomorrow goes!
After lunch, I went to wait outside the judges room to be called in. An exciting part of this week that I forgot to mention yesterday is the entire pageant is being taped for a documentary! So I was filmed before and after my interview. Although I cannot reveal the questions, I felt confident in my answers as they were true to myself. It felt relieving to get the first session over with. The second half of the day we were treated to a presentation by Dallas about how he can up with the accessible campground “Meeting the Need” and his other disability organizations. He was very inspiring. The next and final workshop of the day was taught by several martial arts instructors who showed us some interesting self defense maneuvers. I learned that there are pressure points behind both your ears that would drop to you to your knees if I hit them in the right spot. So watch out!
The day ended with the 50’s sock hop night. Everyone looked wonderful with their poodle skirts and colorful scarves. “Shelvis” performed some Elvis/Grease hits and got everyone out on the dance floor. All the contestants danced the night away and seemed to have a great time. I’m off to bed because I have an early judging session and more workshops. I’ll let you know how tomorrow goes!
