“Let’s get to work!”

Christopher Roach has been a key person this year in my preparations for Miss ND. I had high fitness goals for myself this year and he so graciously donated his time for the past 6 months in preparing me for the Lifestyle & Fitness competition. Sadly, this past week he left for Bismarck, ND where he will continue to be a personal trainer. In honor of his leaving, the staff at Snap Fitness threw him a going away party for all of his clients and other members to come say one last goodbye.

Working with Christopher every week has really helped me gain confidence in my body and it has also given me so much to work towards. I come from a non-athletic background so working out and staying fit has never been a large part of my life, needless to say I am a fish out of water at the gym. Christopher saw this and really walked me through every workout and taught me how to use all the machines. He also stressed the importance of a healthy diet and even taught me how important it was to keep track of what you are eating. I have learned so much from him that I will carry with me for the rest of my life.

Although the swimsuit competition may not carry the largest percentage of your score it really helps you maintain confidence in yourself. Though I never spent much time working out, it has now become my favorite way to prepare myself. I love how Christopher has both mentally and physically pushed me towards my goal of Miss ND and I hope to make him proud come June, where he will be there showing his support! I will definitely think of him every time I work out and remember his inspirational words, “Let’s get to work!”

Laura Harmon
Miss Eastern Dakota 2012

Daddy-Daughter Dance-Grand Forks

Since being crowned Miss Eastern Dakota over 6 months ago I have been hearing about everyone’s favorite event, the annual Knight for a Princess, the daddy-daughter dance put on by the Grand Forks Park District. This event truly lived up to its reputation! Miss Grand Forks and I had the best jobs of handing out flowers to the girls and crowning them upon their arrival. We were then treated to a night with dinner and dancing.

Dancing was so much fun, jumping around and singing with over 200 girls each night was quite the work out! I spend a lot of time making appearances with adults, but children are by far the most fun and memorable group to be around. The night was full of pictures and autographs; Many little girls said how they wanted to show Mommy that they had met a real live princess that night! My favorite moment was when one little girl named Sierra thought for sure that when I went home I was going back to my castle. Of course, I played along and told her all about my purple castle. Those two nights were definitely a highlight of my year so far as a Grand Forks titleholder. Thank you, Lynn Roche and the Grand Forks Parks District for including me in the fabulous event!

Laura Harmon
Miss Eastern Dakota 2012

Miss North Dakota Contestant Forum

The 2012 Miss ND Contestant Forum was held in Minot this weekend. This is a chance for all of the contestants to turn in paperwork and get to meet each other for the first time. Being from Grand Forks it is a little bit of a drive to Minot and, due to work responsibilities, I left that morning along with 4 other girls. Getting into a car at 6am with 4 other girls all packed into my Corolla led to an interesting day of travel. It’s about a 3 hour drive so we left nice and early to make it to the meeting which started at 10am. Most of the morning, I listened to Wicked by myself because everyone else was sleeping, but we made a pit stop for caffeine and everyone was up and laughing again for the last leg of the ride.

It was so great seeing all the contestants that I had grown to know and love while at the pageant last year, seeing the board of directors is also always so much fun. It is a very close knit group of people in North Dakota that put on Miss North Dakota and it is fun to laugh and catch up with each one of them. While there, we had many tasks to accomplish- from getting measured for our opening number outfits to picking our roommates. My favorite thing we learn is our contestant order because it helps lay out our week in Williston. This year I am contestant number 13, which means I compete in Life Style & Fitness and Evening Wear on Thursday night, then Talent and On-Stage Question on Friday night.

Forum always makes me really antsy to get to Williston and for it to just be June already! I still have over a month to wait so I guess I will just have to hold my horses and take this time to keep preparing. That said, I’m really looking forward to a few more speaking engagements and mock interviews during May… stay tuned!

Laura Harmon
Miss Eastern Dakota 2012

Miss MN’s Outstanding Teen Pageant

The Miss Minnesota’s Outstanding Teen Pageant was held Saturday March 31^st. This year, the Miss Grand Forks Organization crowned its first Minnesota teen titleholder Mia Pagnac and we all had a great time traveling to Eden Prairie, MN to support her and watch the pageant. Mia was amazing and did us very proud! Congratulations to the newly crowned Miss MN’s Outstanding Teen Bailey Wachholz of Brainerd, MN.

I also loved getting to see all the Miss MN contestants. I even got to catch up with former Miss MN Sweetheart Samantha Phillippi. Samantha and I became close friends while at the National Sweetheart Pageant this past summer, we also shared our 22^nd Birthdays together down in Hoopeston, IL.

The next day we were fortunate enough to be invited to a mock interview and brunch put on by pageant volunteers and supporters of the Miss Grand Forks Organization. It is amazing to see just how many dedicated volunteers the Miss America Organization has; these people continuously give their time and talents to help us prepare and support us along this journey. I am always so thankful for all the individuals that have helped me prepare for Miss ND over the past few years and love seeing the passion that we all share for the organization.

Laura Harmon
Miss Eastern Dakota 2012

Grand Forks Lions & Alpha Chi Omega

Recently, I’ve had the opportunity to speak with 2 Lions Clubs in the Grand Forks community. Having the chance to stand up and speak to both of these groups was a great honor for me and challenged me to prepare even harder for Miss North Dakota interview. I spoke about my platform Energy Kids and received valuable feedback and encouragement from the groups. While speaking about something that is so important to me is always a great time, the highlight for me at these meetings is always sitting down and sharing a meal with wonderful people; people who are leaders in our community and whose respect I aim for as a local titleholder. Oh, and don’t forget about the singing! They do lots of singing before and after the meetings which really shows the personality of the clubs.

I was also recently invited to Alpha Chi Omega, a sorority at the University of North Dakota to present an etiquette speech before their formal meal. I have been a very active member in Kappa Alpha Theta at the University of North Dakota for the past 4 years and because of this, I’ve made many great connections throughout the Greek Life system at UND.

During the presentation, I was able to share about the Miss America Organization and the great opportunities it presents its titleholders and contestants. With a room of 60 girls, I’m hoping it sparked an interest in at least some of them as the program is a lot like a sorority in its emphasis on community, sisterhood, and personal achievement. I am so excited to have many more speaking engagements to further get out the word about both my platform of Energy Kids and the Miss North Dakota Scholarship Organization!

Laura Harmon
Miss Eastern Dakota 2012

Photo Shoot with RS Photography-Fargo

Children’s Miracle Network Events-Fargo & Grand Forks

This past week I had to chance to be involved with two great fundraising events for the Children’s Miracle Network, the first was on Sunday and it was a phone-a-thon at the Fargo location, and the other was the IHop National Pancake Day at the Grand Forks IHop. It is great to have the chance to help out with such an amazing organization.

The phone-a-thon on Sunday was a ton of fun. Miss Grand Forks and I carpooled from Grand Forks and met up with Miss Empire at the hospital. Another title holder from Minnesota was there as well. The group size of volunteers was so large that they had us each call for an hour and then take a tour of the hospital for an hour. The tour was so interesting to see all the great tools and specialized equipment that the Children’s Miracle Network dollars had helped fund. We also learned all about a character name Alfunz, he is the theme of the whole children’s hospital at Sanford and the whole place is a like a village from a fairy tale. It is so amazing to see all the steps Sanford Hospital in Fargo has taken to make the scary hospital trips seem more fun to all the kids they treat. For the last hour we called previous donors and asked them to help again this year, it is amazing to speak with the donors and realize just how generous people are.

Afterwards the three of us decided to do a little bonding and go out for lunch. But not before stopping by a cute little boutique call Downtown Diva. The owner is so fun to chat with; she makes any trip to Fargo a memorable one. She has a lot of friends in the pageant community and so Miss Empire and I wanted to introduce her to Miss Grand Forks. After some fun in the shop we went to Nicole’s for lunch and Miss Empire and I share an amazing chocolate tower. A big part of this experience is getting to know the other titleholders and really creating friendships that will last long after the competition in June.

The second event I took part in was serving free pancakes at IHop. On Tuesday for a small donation you could receive a free short stack of pancakes! Miss America has taken the national platform of the Children’s Miracle Network and because of this great relationship many titleholders all over the US were all serving pancakes for this great fundraiser. My day started at 9am at IHop where I brought out all the free pancakes that were ordered. I volunteered in the mornings 9am-11am and then again 4pm-7pm. Having a background in serving it was easy to fit in and just help the serving staff where I could. During the evening a little boy who had been in the children’s hospital came to help out with the fundraiser as well. His name was Jordan and he was from Grand Forks, his main job was to help the manager and put all the money envelopes in the box. He was a ton of fun and brought so much energy to the night.

Volunteering with the Children’s Miracle Network is such a big part of being a Miss America titleholder and having many opportunities to get involved with the organization is amazing. Nothing can touch your heart more than the story of a child. This relationship is just another l reason why I am so proud to be involved with the Miss America Scholarship Organization.

Laura Harmon
Miss Eastern Dakota 2012

Mad Hatter Tea Room- Anoka, MN

This past Presidents’ weekend I spent with my family was a blast! I left Friday afternoon with my parents to go down to Elk River, MN to visit my sister and her family for the long weekend. It was such a great break from school and just to get out of my usual routine of work and school. My sister is nearly seven years older than me and is married with two wonderful kids, my niece Charlotte who is 4 and my nephew Bryce who is 1.

This weekend my sister had the brilliant idea to try out this tea room in Anoka, MN called the Mad Hatter Tea Room, it was so much fun. My mom, sister, niece, and I all went together for a fun girl’s afternoon. They had all sorts of crazy hats to put on while we were there, so we all picked a fun hat and sat down at our cute little table. We had a choice of two teas out of a bunch of options, and my niece had a big pot of pink lemonade (she loved putting sugar cubes in it). A big tray of little sandwiches and desserts soon followed and we ate almost all of it. The setting was Alice in Wonderland and the white rabbit hole was even there. We had such an entertaining and unique afternoon, plus anything that is super girly is perfect for my niece….. and me.

My sister Sarah is my best friend and I only get to see her a few times a year, so every chance I have to go visit I take advantage of it. Being involved with pageants I often get the question of who inspires you, or who is your biggest role model? This question is always so fun for me to answer because I get to share my sisters amazing story with others and tell them how strong and brave she is. My nephew Bryce was born 11 weeks premature at only two and a half pounds and I got to see firsthand the emotional journey mothers go through when they are faced with some of the scariest moments of a child’s life. I was there when my sister’s water broke when she was just 27 weeks along, which was the beginning of a very long 3 months for our family. She was in the hospital for 2 weeks while they kept off labor and the first week she was there I got to babysit my favorite person in the whole world, my niece who was then 3, Charlotte. That week I saw what it was like to raise a child and I will tell you what it is a tough job! But I would never trade that week for anything, I gained so much more respect for my sister and learned so much about what she goes through every day. It was a tough journey for all of us, but that experience brought me so much closer to my sister and I am very grateful to have a great relationship with such an amazingly courageous young women. Oh and by the way Bryce is doing great, he now almost outweighs his 4 year old sister!

All in all, this weekend was amazing and it makes me want to quickly plan my next trip to visit. I am so thankful to have a great family that enjoys spending time together.

Laura Harmon
Miss Eastern Dakota 2012

2012 Grand Forks & Grand Cities’ Outstanding Teens!

On Sunday the Miss Grand Forks Scholarship Organization held its annual Outstanding Teen Pageant! This year was really exciting because we welcomed two new young ladies to our organization, one to compete for Miss North Dakota’s Outstanding Teen in June and another for Miss Minnesota’s Outstanding Teen in March. Here in Grand Forks we are right on the boarder of North Dakota and Minnesota so we opened up the competition for all area teens and were excited to welcome girls from both states.

Ten teens competed this year, some had competed before but for most it was their first pageant. It is so exciting to see so many new girls wanting to experience a pageant in the MAOT system and have an experience that they will always remember. Only two girls walked away with a title but so many others walked away with a new sense of confidence, set of life experiences, and new friends.

My role along with my sister queens was to entertain and emcee. This was a great opportunity to improve on our speaking skills and become more comfortable on stage. As much as I love dressing up and getting to entertain an audience nothing compares to the feelings that happen behind the stage. The atmosphere of a pageant from backstage is full of so many emotions. Being backstage you get to encourage every girl and really spend time getting to know them. My favorite, but most tense time is after all the competition is done and you are waiting to go on stage for awards, this is when all the girls are standing around talking and laughing, all knowing it is now up to the judges. This is the last time you will be with these girls all together and you should really cherish that moment. Watching the girls smile and hug each other as they walked out on the stage for the last time is really what it is all about, because it shows just how much these girls have bonded.

For my two new little sisters I cannot wait to get to know you both and root you on this spring! You are both great girls and will accomplish many great things this year. The Miss America’s Outstanding Teen Organization is amazing and you will grow so much by being representatives of the program. Congratulations to Miss Grand Forks’ Outstanding Teen Alyssa Black and Miss Grand Cities’ Outstanding Teen Mia Pagnac!

Miss Eastern Dakota 2012
Laura Harmon

Rotary Club, Bridal Show, & Complete Nutrition

This past week I had the opportunity to make two appearances in the Grand Forks community. This first was speaking at the Grand Forks Noon Rotary Club meeting on Tuesday. This was a great opportunity to share my platform and my Miss America experiences with many area leaders. My platform of sustainable living is one that is easily taught to any age group and having the chance to share my goals for my platform was very exciting. I also loved sharing my experience with the Miss America Organization to people who have not heard much about it. It is very important to show community members what a great organization this is and how it has had an amazing impact on my life and the lives of thousands of other women in America.

On Sunday I had a great time being a live model for Beautiful Beginnings of Thief River Falls, MN at the Grand Forks Wedding Show at the Alerus Center. Miss Grand Forks and I had so much fun changing outfits every hour and walking around speaking to community members. I saw many friends from around Grand Forks and met many new people as well, most had questions about our crowns and we filled them in on the Miss Grand Forks Scholarship Organization. It was great having the time to talk with people and really make a personal connection with so many in one afternoon. My favorite new friend was a little girl who was so excited to see a “princess” is a beautiful big pink dress, I asked her if one day she would have a pretty pink dress like mine, she replied “no, I want a blue one, that’s my favorite color.” The next dress I put on was blue and when she saw me in it her face lit up and I was so happy to see her excitement just by seeing a beautiful blue dress. Time after time children make the biggest impact on my experiences as Miss Eastern Dakota.

One last thing I did just recently was visit my Complete Nutrition sponsor to get some advice and products to help me achieve my fitness goals. I am very excited about the Life Style & Fitness portion of the Miss North Dakota competition this year! I have been working hard to change my lifestyle to suit a more healthy way of living with regular exercise and healthy foods, including lots of fruits and veggies. With the extra help from Complete Nutrition I am well on my way to accomplishing my person fitness goals.

Laura Harmon
Miss Eastern Dakota 2012