Wow, what a week it has been! Last Wednedsay, I left the great state of Iowa and headed south for the NFPB finals in St. Joe. My intentions when I left were to meet lots of people and have a good time, and I came home with so much more than that. I arrived in St. Joe on Wednesday afternoon for the Miss NFPB orientation, where I met 6 other incredible girls: Sarah, Hannah, Alyssa, Amanda, Marie, and April. Before we knew it we were getting ready for the first performance of the Finals.

Thursday came with our written test in the morning, a trip to the Cerebal Palsy Unit of Buchanan County, sponsor visits, a trip to East Hills Mall for some promo work, and finally a performance!

Friday morning came early, so we could be ready for our TV interview with Channel 2. From there we headed to the St. Joe Civic Center arena for the horsemanship portion of the competition. A huge thank you to Duane Taylor for providing four wonderful horses! Congrats to Alyssa for winning horsemanship. After horsemanship we had a little time to prepare ourselves for the Fashion Show. Before we knew it, it was time to model our beautiful sponsored outfits, our fun western outfit of our choosing, and finally our formal wear. We also gave our speeches and answered two impromptu questions. Then it was back to the Civic Arena for the Finals.

Saturday we had some time to sleep in before heading over to the Civic Arena for the VIP rodeo. The VIP Rodeo is an opportunity for those with special needs to meet the cowboys, ride a horse, practice their roping skills, and get to feel like a real cowboy (or cowgirl) for the day. It was such a fun experience because we had met some of those cowboys and cowgirls the day before at the Cerebal Palsy Unit. The looks on their faces were priceless as they enjoyed the activities in the arena! After the VIP rodeo we had some time to prepare ourselves for the interview. That evening we headed back to the Civic Arena for the final night of the Finals. April did a fabulous job selling program ads, and won the top ad sales award, Peoples Choice and Photogenics was won by Alyssa, and Sarah received Miss Congeniality. Second runner up was Marie Mahaney and 1st runner up was Alyssa Morrison. I was honored to not only come home with the title, but the Speech award. I guess giving my speech to my sorority and to some of my classes here at Iowa State really paid off. All of the students in those classes and my sorority are sure glad not to have to listen to my speech any more!

As promised, here is my shout out to the women of Pi Beta Phi, my sorority at ISU, I hope all of you will be able to make it to one of my apperances this summer.
There are so many people that need to be thanked: Car City Dodge for the use of a van, Stetson Outlet in St. Joe, all of the pageant sponsors and so many behind the scence helpers. Kelsea Walker and Paula Jameson were excellent coordinators and I look forward to working with them this coming year.

Mom and Dad, buckle down, here we go for another year of traveling across the Midwest. I look forward to meeting you all down the road, see you at NFPB events!
See You Soon,

Rachel