Let’s Go Full STEAM Ahead!

Miss Southwest Sierra Marie Bonn sat down with me to talk about her social impact initiative “Let’s Go Full STEAM Ahead!” You can listen to my conversation with Sierra on my Podcast.  The episode is titled “Let’s Go Full STEAM Ahead!

Let’s Go Full STEAM Ahead! is an initiative to promote STEAM education and engagement.  STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math. Let’s Go Full STEAM Ahead! empowers young women to pursue STEAM careers. 

Sierra teaches her curriculum in classrooms, camps and college campuses across the country. 

On her website, she shares new technological advances, student-friendly STEAM experiments, events in and around the State of Kansas, and highlights inspirational leaders.

Women in STEAM Week is the third week in October, each year.  In addition to learning about influential women, you can nominate someone who has made positive contributions to STEAM in your community by visiting her website, LetsGoFullSTEAMAhead.com

 

Pageant Queen Principles of Health – Exercise

 

Are you swimwear ready? Whether you are a pageant contestant, current titleholder or not, your personal style begins with good health and fitness.   

The Pageant Queen Principles of Health and Fitness begin with exercise.  Physical activity is an important part of every morning routine. Studies show exercising first thing in the morning followed by a healthy breakfast is best for elevating the metabolism after a good night’s rest. A higher metabolism throughout the day not only continues to burn calories keeping You appearance ready but also helps you stay energized for all those appearances.

Additional reasons why it is a great idea to work out first thing in the morning include:

• Leaves time for other priorities: Now that your workout is done and over with first thing in the morning, you have the rest of your day to complete other tasks.
• Increased energy levels during the day: Exercise has been proven to increase energy levels and focus throughout the day. By working out first thing in the morning, you are getting a head start on your day.
• You’ll be less likely to skip your workout: It can be easy to get distracted at various points of the day that might sabotage your workout (less motivation, fatigue, overdue school work). By working out first thing in the morning, when your mind has very few things to concentrate on just yet, you will be less likely to skip your workout later. (Source:NIFS)

*BONUS: For every 1 lb. of muscle you gain, your body will burn an extra 6 to 10 calories per day at rest. Gain 10 lbs. of muscle and you could be burning an extra 100 calories while at rest (Source: BuiltLean).

Self-Care Strategy: Volunteer

Miss America Serves Day is April 7th this year and titleholders, contestants and volunteers will be serving their communities through their personal platform in addition to raising funds for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals (CMNH).

My personal platform is raising awareness of cognitive impairments and the importance of self-care to decrease the effects of stress on the brain. Volunteering is one form of self-care that I have identified as it helps me to focus on the needs of others and how I can help them.

Volunteering is good for your mind and body as it provides many benefits to both your mental and physical health.

Volunteering combats depression.

Reducing the risk of depression is an important benefit of volunteering. A key risk factor for depression is social isolation. Volunteering helps you make positive connections, eliminating isolation, and can contribute to your overall happiness.

According to an article from Harvard Health Publishing volunteering has positive implications that go beyond mental health. A growing body of evidence suggests that people who give their time to others might also be rewarded with better physical health—including lower blood pressure and a longer lifespan.

Evidence of volunteerism’s physical effects can be found in a recent study from Carnegie Mellon University, published in Psychology and Aging. Adults over age 50 who volunteered on a regular basis were less likely to develop high blood pressure than non-volunteers. High blood pressure is an important indicator of health because it contributes to heart disease, stroke, and premature death.

This week, during Miss America Serves week, consider ways to improve your health through volunteering. If you would like to help me make miracles with CMNH, you can donate here. All funds raised go to the local CMNH hospitals.  Whether it is $1 or $100, every dollar counts and can make the difference in the life of a child or the family of a child who is in the hospital.

Visit CMNH to learn more about Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.

Pageant Queen Principles for Productivity

You don’t have to be Miss America to use pageant queen principles to prioritize your life. These principles will help you organize your time, manage your business and get things done!

Pageant participants realize that only one girl will walk away with the crown. While it is a competition, the true competition is with themselves; being the best they can be. All the preparation they put into the competition helps them focus on their strengths and passions preparing them to seize all of the opportunities that cross their path whether they are awarded a sash and crown or not. They understand they are always wearing an invisible crown and operate accordingly.

So how do pageant queens manage to juggle school, jobs, oftentimes a small business, community service which can number in the hundreds of hours, family and relationship obligations, all while maintaining a health and wellness routine giving them the confidence to cross a stage in a swimsuit?

Balancing all of their responsibilities requires preparation. They prepare in 4 areas that are pretty consistent across various organizations and I have identified them as Being, Body, Brain, and Success. As a result, I set my planning routine around these major categories and coach others to do the same.

I like to start with Success.

Pageant Queens understand that a “crown” merely provides a platform for delivering their message. In order to have a successful pageant season, they must identify their passion and purpose which will drive and motivate them to reach their goal. Then they envision reaching their goal by employing the strategy of visualization. They dream of seeing themselves standing on stage, hearing their name called out, walking in their evening gown with new sash, crown, and flowers while waving to the audience and thanking the judges. They even practice their “I can’t believe I just won” face…why?

Studies show visualization improves motivation, coordination, concentration and has been understood since Aristotle described the process over 2,000 years ago, “First, have a definite, clear, practical ideal; a goal, an objective. Second, have the necessary means to achieve your ends: wisdom, money, materials, and methods. Third, adjust all your means to that end.”

Once she has the vision, a Pageant Queen will assess her strengths, weaknesses, and resources. She will create a plan of action to reach the crown and set up a system for tracking her results based on her identified passion and purpose.

Since titles are passed on to a new Queen each year, her deadline is clearly defined and she can set up a timeline for reaching mini-milestones that will all take her to her ultimate goal. Sharing her vision with others…that journey may or may not result in a crown and she knows that. Her actions align with her purpose.

Mini-milestones are defined in three major areas of Being, Body, and Brain. Her planning routine is broken down to reflect this all while moving her towards her intended goal … the coveted crown.

Being covers her spiritual house, so to speak. Her relationships with others and is also known as her network. It includes her platform, also known as her community service, and how she intends to make the world a better place. She will need to track sponsor relationships and fundraising in addition to her volunteer hours.

Body covers her physical house. Her health and wellness, nutrition and fitness routine and trackers for maintaining an appearance ready physique and giving her the confidence to stand tall, smile and shine the light of her crown on what matters most to her: her goal of helping others.

Brian covers her mental house. This is her scholastic focus and personal development and may include entrepreneurial goals.

As you can see, each of the identified areas allows for a framework of creating a self-management system that is flexible enough for Pageant Queens to tailor but structured enough to provide a guide for reaching her potential. This empowers her to prioritize her life, organize her time and manage her business and it can do the same for you.

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