SO Thankful!

Happy Thanksgiving! I have been blessed with an amazing family and I am so thankful to have them in my life. Every year on Thanksgiving weekend, I am traveling to compete in the Midwest Championships for Irish dance. This is an extremely important competition because this is the qualifying competition for the World Championships. I spend all summer preparing for this weekend and hope all my hard work pays off. Now that I am in college and on a collegiate dance team, I didn't have the time to be fully prepared for this competition. Instead of competing, I have been teaching at my dance studio. I helped other young dancers prepare in hopes to make their dreams come true. It was so nice to finally be home for Thanksgiving day! My whole family went over to my grandpa's, "Pap", and had a delicious feast! I woke up VERY early the next morning and traveled to Columbus to support the dancers I had been training. It was a very different experience going to the competition as an instructor rather than a competitor. I did miss dancing, but I also enjoyed the stress free weekend! I watched my own age group compete and supported all of my friends I made through competing in past years. They all danced amazing and I was very proud of them! I have been working with a 13 year old dancer for the past couple years and I have grown to become very close with her and her family. They are like another family to me! She has worked so hard and she made it her goal to qualify for the World Championship competition which will be held in Glasgow, Scotland in April. After watching her compete, I knew she danced to the best of her ability and I could not have been any more proud of her! I told her it didn't matter what the results were because she gave it her all and that was a huge accomplishment in itself. When it finally came to results that night, I heard the good news that she is now a world qualifier!! It was a very successful weekend and I had a blast! After the competing is all over, there is a dinner dance for all of the dancers, instructors, and judges. This is my favorite part of the weekend because all of the stressing is over and we can all go just relax and have fun dancing with our friends. This year's theme was "A Night in Las Vegas." I was pretty excited to find the perfect dress for the event and I must admit, I think I found it! It was so much fun just getting all dressed up with my friends and taking pictures together before the night began. We danced the night away to an amazing live band and had a delicious dinner too! It was a great way to end such an awesome weekend. Irish dance will always be a major aspect in my life. It truly has made me who I am today and I have a huge passion for it. One of the main reasons I love Irish dance so much is because of my dance teacher, Tim O'Hare. Tim O’Hare has taught me so much not only in dance, but about these true life lessons that I will carry on with me forever. Tim will always be one of my favorite people in this world and he will tell you himself how much I love him! I never leave a practice without telling him! I am so grateful to have him in my life. I am so thrilled that I started to be an assistant teacher with Tim. I have found that I enjoy teaching much like I enjoy dancing myself. When I see my students reach their goals and see the smiles on their faces, I feel I accomplished a goal myself. Tim gave me this amazing opportunity and I could not thank him enough.

My wonderful siblings!
I love Tara and Sean so much! I honestly don't
know what I would do without them in my life. We
joked about how we all matched on Thanksgiving!
We honestly didn't even plan this! We must think
alike :) We thought it was definitely picture worthy!

This is one of my great friend's, Veronica! She
lives in Chicago and I grew up dancing with her.
She is extremely talented and a very accomplished
dancer. This picture was taken after she was all finished
competing! Don't you just love the curly wigs we Irish
dancers get to wear? Haha!

This is the best Irish dance teacher in the world,
Tim O'Hare! This was taken right before the dinner
dance! How do you like my Las Vegas theme dress?
I fell in LOVE with it when I saw it in the store! I also truly love
Tim with all my heart! He was SO excited when he heard I
won Miss Ohio Teen USA! He not only supports me in dance,
but in everything I do. He is even coming to watch me at the
Miss Teen USA pageant this summer! I can't wait! :)

My First Appearance!

I made my first appearance as Miss Ohio Teen USA! My sister, Tara is a third grade teacher at Cornerstone Academy in Columbus, Ohio. I am extremely close with my sister and it is hard on me not being able see her all the time. Tara has been my role model and my best friend. She is one of my biggest supporters and is so proud of me. She shared with her colleagues at work that I was Miss Ohio Teen USA. When the principal of Tara's school heard my good news, she invited me to visit the school as a guest speaker to the children. I was thrilled and so excited for this opportunity! One of my goals as Miss Ohio Teen USA is to visit schools across Ohio and encourage children to become aware of their inner beauty and promote a positive self-image. I want to inspire children to believe in themselves and realize that no one can make you feel inferior without your consent. One of my life ambitions is to ALWAYS stay true to myself. I think it is very important for children to learn this at a young age and develop self-confidence.

I traveled to Columbus November 23rd and spent the night with my sister. I woke up early the next morning and went to school with her. This was the last day of school for the students before Thanksgiving break. The students in Tara's class were adorable and they truly made me feel like a celebrity! They were so excited to see me and I was just as thrilled to see them. My day was broken up into assemblies by grades. I began with the children in kindergarten and ended speaking to the seventh graders. The students were well behaved and treated me with respect. I truly had a blast talking to the children and answering their questions! After the assemblies were over, I visited a number of classrooms. The first graders had a Thanksgiving feast and invited me to come and share it with them. They made me an Indian hat and the cutest Happy Thanksgiving cards. Each student wrote about how thankful they were that I came to visit. They truly made my day! The students asked if I would come back to visit them and I think I just might do that! I took a countless number of pictures and signed just as many autographs. It is my hope to be a positive influence on children and young adults. I felt that I accomplished my goal and brightened the day for these students. I know they certainly brightened my day!

This is my sister's classroom bright and early
in the morning before the children arrived!

Here are some of the adorable first graders that
invited me to their Thanksgiving feast. They were
so sweet! They wrote me the nicest cards that I will
keep forever! I will never forget them! :)

After speaking to all of the classes, I spent the remainder of
the day with my sister's 3rd graders. They were the cutest!
I helped them with their math homework and then had a
free day the rest of the time! We watched "The Lion King"
together and danced to Michael Jackson haha!
I had a blast with them!

GO ZIPS!

Wow! November has flown by so quickly! This was a very exciting month for me! I am a member of the University of Akron's dance team and I love it so much! Dance has been apart of my life ever since I was a little girl. I was thrilled when I found out I had made a college dance team! I have made so many wonderful friendships with the girls on the team that I will cherish for a lifetime. I have spent countless hours with them and they have grown to become like a family. We have been practicing since July! We have been working very hard to make our season the best it can be! Although we don't dance at the football games, we are still a part of all the football excitement! We are there at the games promoting the University of Akron, usually throwing out t-shirts or passing out fliers. We also serve as ambassadors for the University at various functions, fundraisers, and charitable events. Now that the football season has come to an end, it is finally time for the basketball season to begin! We danced at our first basketball game November 10th which was a blast! The Akron Zips men's basketball team faced off Mount Union in an exhibition game and we won with a score of 88 to 38!! The dance team and cheerleaders cheered them on to an exciting win! Our primary mission is to interact with the crowd to generate enthusiasm and spirit during the game. The dance team performs at all of the time outs, usually with our fantastic band, to keep the crowd involved and entertained. At halftime, we really get to showcase our talent with a choreographed dance. This is my favorite part of the game! I love all of the dances and it is so much fun to perform them in front of a large crowd! Dance team definitely has kept me busy and I'm honored to be a part of such a wonderful team!

The beautiful U of A dance team! This group of girls have become
like a family to me. I am so fortunate to have them in my life!
We recently took this team photo along with individual photos and
the photographer decided to use this flier as her advertisement! :)

Posing with my good friends Cassi and Danielle prior to performing
at a wheelchair basketball game! This was a charity event for disabled
children and adults that are wheelchair bound. It was so wonderful to
be a part of this event and to see these individuals participate in a sport
they love so much! We had a blast dancing and cheering the athletes on!

This is my best friend Cassi! I met Cassi in the summer at our first
dance team practice. We immediately clicked and have grown to
become best friends! We are inseparable! We do everything together!
We always joke about how we ever lived without each other! She supports
me in everything I do and will hopefully be coming to the Miss Teen USA
pageant this summer to cheer me on! She's the best! :)