Search results matching tag 'Hoosier Girls State'

I love the 4th of July!!

StephF — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 02:57:00 GMT

So I totally can't believe that this week is already over! It has basically flown by. When I got home from HGS, I had just over two weeks before Miss Pike County, the pageant I am going to be in. So this week I have been getting my outfits all together, making signs, keeping up on the news, and figuring out everything else! Before Girls State I was in this rut where I was never productive whatsoever, but since every day last week I was up around 6:30 and doing things every day...now I feel like sleeping in till 9 is crazy, and I am just in this mood to get lots of things done! It has been a pretty successful week for me! :)

The beginning of school is getting close....it's only a month and a half away, which is so hard for me to believe! So if you are an incoming freshman....I sure hope that you are getting excited....because college is wonderful! And if you still in high school....enjoy your time there, but remember to look forward to college too!!!! :) But back to the incoming freshmen, as you are getting excited to get to college and as you get all of your stuff together.....also prep yourselves for the massive amounts of icebreakers that you will have to do when you get to school. That is the one thing that I remember being tired of after my welcome week, doing ice breakers. By the time classes start, there is no longer any ice to break....and you will be soo glad.

So I am getting rather excited for the 4th of July. :) It is basically the best holiday ever, besides Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving....I just love holidays basically! But I love the 4th so much because a nearby town has a huge festival for the 4th every year....so I go there and have the best homemade ice cream and fair food and I get to see all of my friends....and my Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Stu always have a 4th of July get-together...and I love going there too! So basically it is lots of amazing food and company....all at the same time! They even have tractor pulls and a demo derby at the festival.....which are so "Southern Indiana" but still tons of fun. So the next few days for me will be spent celebrating the 4th of July.... :)

My HGS Wrap-Up...

StephF — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 03:00:00 GMT

Now that I am home and done with Hoosier Girls State, I've been thinking about last week a lot and just wrapping up some loose ends. Of course, I still haven't completely unpacked....but I'm kind of planning ahead for next year...for instance, I am going to stock up on clearance 4th of July decorations....since patriotic items are always good to have around during HGS. But since I have been home, I have been thinking about the differences between my delegate year at Girls State, and being a counselor this year. Here are the most prominent ones that I have been thinking about...

How difficult it is to not talk about some things...as counselors, there are certain things that we don't talk to our citizens about until the very last night. For instance, if you are a young counselor who is obviously close in age to the girls, we don't tell them our true age, just in case they think that they don't have to listen to us just because we aren't much older than them. For some girls, they have tons of fun with this, because they make up big stories and such to tell the girls and make them think that we are older than we really are. I didn't do this because I was kind of scared to...haha. But there were times when my girls would try to catch me off guard and get hints from me about how old I was....and I ALMOST gave in. But I think I was pretty good at hiding it. :) We also don't tell our girls what political party we were in while we were at Girls State, and what offices we ran for. This was probably the hardest part for me, because there were so many times when I wanted to share things with the girls, like my past experiences and such...but at the same time, I am glad that I didn't say anything, because they each had to experience Hoosier Girls State for themselves. And I got to tell them about my days in Newman City on the last night anyway. :)
I loved getting to know the girls and especially the other ladies on staff. We always say that there are no words to describe Hoosier Girls State, and that is even more true now that I have been a counselor. It was just a whole new experience to know the people who were putting on all of our programs and organizing everything, and it made me appreciate every aspect of HGS so much more. At the beginning of the week it was sort of awkward, but by the end we were all like a family. Especially all of the counselors in my county. It was great because I knew that if I needed help, someone would be there for me no matter what, and they would make sure that I made it through the situation as easily as possible. :) I also loved seeing ladies who have been on staff for numerous years, you know why they come back year after year without even asking them. One of my favorite things to do each day was to just stop for awhile at the front desk of my hall and talk to the ladies who were volunteering to be our receptionists for the week. Being able to hear their stories about their lives, their husbands, their families, and just telling them about my day was always such a joy.

All in all, last week was amazing. So amazing that I can't imagine next summer without leaving a spot for HGS. I put together a video of different programs and such that we had last week just to give you a better idea of what it was all about. :) Enjoy!

(Please visit the site to view this media)

HGS 2009 - Stars & Stripes Forever

StephF — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 16:57:00 GMT

So I am officially finished with HGS 2009! It was an outrageous week....full of lots of long nights...lots of walking....lots of voting and speeches...and even more fun! I am crazy tired and I almost fell asleep on my way home yesterday...but now I am home, and in the air conditioning...and im not surrounded by 646 senior girls. haha. Here's a recap on the rest of my week.....

Wednesday was the two-party rally, where the girls get the chance to get all pepped up and excited about their party's canidates for office. Here are the Democracy County counselors....and don't worry....everyone dresses up crazy!

Thursday- This was the day of the general election....which was amazing! The primaries were sort of difficult since it was the first time around for the girls (they basically run it all, I just oversee things), and there were more ballots to count and all. But the general election went so quickly and smoothly, it was wonderful!!! :) Then we found out who was elected to all of the offices, and there were 3 inaugeration ceremonies: city, county, and state. It was a busy day, getting everything ready for inaugerations and such...and the girls stayed pretty busy in their free time by decorating our city and getting ready for Friday...the best day of them all!

Friday- This was the day where everyone who was elected to an office got to do what their real life counterpart does, or meet them. Senators, representatives, and state officials went to the state house in Indy to meet the real state officials and pass bills and resolutions, and the city and county officials went to city hall or the courthouse in Terre Haute. Everyone also basically got to do "whatever they wanted". Now we didn't let them just have free reign on ISU, they were supervised...but they staged assasinations, they arrested people, they got married...basically they had the time of their lives. When I asked them what their favorite part of the week was, everyone always said Friday....because it is the best day after all. Friday night there was a talent show.....which was so much better this year than I had ever remembered! Now here is a photo of our city on Friday night before our city closing ceremony.

Yesterday was Honor Day....and I was so proud of my girls!!! They got the Governor's Award, which means that the did the best job on Friday as they were carrying out their jobs. And one of my girls was Democracy County Outstanding Girl and she is an alternate for Girls Nation! How exciting is that?? I was blessed with a pretty talented and amazing city! Overall, the week was stressful and tiring....but it was still an opportunity that I am so glad that I had the chance to take part in, and I can't wait to go back next year! If I could do it every week of the summer....I totally would! I love politics and government...and being able to teach the girls about that was such a blessing. Check back on here for a video all about HGS soon!

Back to Hoosier Girls State I go.....

StephF — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 18:34:00 GMT

So as I have mentioned in previous blogs....I am at Hoosier Girls State this week as a Government Counselor. :) Of course it has been the hottest week EVER, and our dorms at Indiana State do not have air conditioning...haha. It is so pleasant. But ever since the girls arrived on Sunday, we have been busy 24/7 and having TONS of fun! If you don't know what HGS is, it is a week long program put on by the American Legion Auxillary that teaches seniors in high school about our state government. It is basically like the most fun government camp you could ever imagine! Yeah I know, government camp doesn't sound like any fun whatsoever....but it really is tons of fun!!! :) It is the best way to learn about our political process-by doing it all yourself. Our citizens are divided into cities of about 28 girls, and then there are 4 cities in every county, and we also have two fictional political parties. The week is divided into three sections- forming the political party structure, running for elective office, and then doing what you were elected to do. This morning were our primary elections, and tomorrow is the general election... :) So today is my favorite day.....we found out who all the parties candidates are, tonight is the two party rally, and then we have whistle stops, which is basically like a town hall debate. So imagine the town hall debates between Obama and McCain, and then replace everyone with senior girls in a dorm. haha. It is pretty legit. The campaigning has been going rather strong since Monday, and this is my favorite....people love to write with sidewalk chalk to campaign...but the only problem is that you can't spell anything wrong. Well someone did....but they tried to cover it up....hahahahahahaha. Check it out...

Needless to say, she did not get her party's nomination for Governor. The rest of the week has been really exciting as well...here is a run-down of each day's activities so far...

Friday-Saturday: The counselors came in and we had meetings, set everything up, and made sure that all of ISU was ready for 646 senior girls to take over....there was even almost a tornado!!!

Sunday: The girls arrived and they started to learn all about government...Sunday is usually the worst day, since they aren't used to being hot, and they just got thrown into a city with 27 girls they didn't know....and we have LOTS of meetings....so usually, girls are terrified that day. I really like to think about what each girl was like as she got off the elevator on our floor, and then compare that to what she is like now. The difference is like night and day. The first day is pretty boring/overwhelming, and almost everyone regrets coming at the end of it.

Monday: By Monday, the girls are getting more comfortable...meeting more people....and starting to have fun! Monday is the day when the political parties are being formed, so it is always the first round of speeches for the city, county, and state levels.....and they consist a lot of the girls saying, "At my high school, I am in all these clubs and I am president of each of them" which gets really old really fast. Monday night is "Girls State Night" where the Governor, Girls Nation Delegates, and Outstanding Girl from the previous year come back to give speeches. They also had the Lt. Governor from Hoosier Boys State (which was last week), which made the girls go WILD! You would have thought that we had kept them locked up without seeing a member of the opposite sex for like 2 years. Some girls even had the guts to ask him for his number after the program. It was crazy...lol

Tuesday: Tuesday was the day when they started running for their elected offices...and all of the governor candidates gave speeches to their respective parties. So all the girls filed for their offices....and then that night we had Veteran's Appreciation Night. It was a VERY long day. haha. This was the day that I learned that you do not go without plenty of sleep at girls state....I got rather irritable. haha. So since then I have been trying to get PLENTY of rest....but it isn't really happening. haha....at least I try! :)

Well that is the week so far in a nutshell...soon I will have up a video and more info on my experience with HGS!!! :)

This is some EXTREME procrastinating...

StephF — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 15:02:00 GMT

So right now I should be packing for Hoosier Girls State....but I'm not. I thought I should sleep in while I can, because for the next week I'll be getting up at the crack of dawn every day.... :( I don't know how this will go..haha. I have to be in Terre Haute at like 6 tonight, so I have a few hours still! But of course I waited till the last minute to pack and get everything ready....hhaha. Yesterday I tried to get a lot of stuff done around here, and my friends came over to swim and hang out.....and of course we had to go out to the barn and play with the kittens, who you all haven't seen yet. So I thought I would tell you a little bit about them.. :)

This is Duncan....he is my favorite and the one that we have had the longest. I've already showed you all a picture of him, but his eye was all messed up...but this is what he looks like now...haha...notice that he wouldn't even stop moving for a photo! His life's ambitition is to be a ninja cat....and he is doing really well with that. If you would like to see a pretty amazing ninja cat, search on YouTube for "Kill Bill Ninja Cat". That is what Duncan will be like someday...haha

This is Nigel, and he is one of our newer ones....he loves to be adventurous....oh so much. While we were out at my pool, he ventured out to the pool about 4 times, and the last time he even went under our deck...which was driving our dogs crazy....so I put them up in their cage so they couldnt venture out there anymore....haha.

This is Tyson, and he is one of our newer ones and the smallest of them all. :) He is pretty submissive....and he just follows Nigel wherever he goes.....and watches Nigel and Duncan as they fight/play....haha. He is adorable though....and I really appreciate his timidness when he follows Nigel out to the yard, and then he doesn't follow him into the dog's area (they have an invisible fence) and he doesn't follow him under the pool deck. haha. Well I'm off to go pack.... :)

Who knew I would actually be busy this summer?!

StephF — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 13:52:00 GMT

So for the past month I have been terrified that if I didn't find a job this summer, that I would have absolutely nothing to do. But this week I have been swamped! Yeah not really swamped like I am during the school year....but for not having a job and it being the summer...yeah I've been swamped. Getting things done for the pageant I'm going to be in in less than a month, spending time with friends, and getting things ready for Hoosier Girls State next week has been pretty time-consuming!

Tuesday was also my boyfriend's birthday....so I had been getting his present ready for him....and hoping that he wouldn't guess what I was getting him! It was pretty rough because I wanted to get him Sperry's (a kind of shoe)...but he hadn't ever tried them on or anything, so I didn't know what kind he would like and more importantly, what size to get him. So his sister and I formed a plan, that we would all go shopping in Evansville so that Susan could visit a friend, and he would just naturally want to try them on....then I would sneak away and buy him some....but it was a lot more difficult than that! The sneaking away without being noticed was pretty hard...but eventually I succeeded, and I got him the shoes....and then I just had to hope that I came back with a bag that wasn't mine, and that he didn't notice the switching around of things in bags when we got back to my house. I also wanted to make him his fraternity letters and mine to match...so I had to talk him into going to a craft store so I could get things for my mom, even though they really weren't for my mom...haha. I was really hoping that he wouldn't notice that I was buying three wooden I's to make his Pi, and a K and an A, and then another O, I (together they make a Phi), and an A....and he didn't...so SUCCESS! I would've thought ahead more, but then different things came up, and I realized that that was the only day that I could go shopping for him.

He also got a Wii for his birthday, which I am SOO excited about! I'm not horrible at anything but Baseball...but I'm awesome at these random games on Wii Play....which I don't know where that will get me in life, but I'll take what I can get. I am usually horrible at all video games in general because we never had a Nintendo or PlayStation when I was growing up....we focused on Barbies at my house. But Scott basically made bank with his presents...here he is...being all excited about his birthday...

Introducing: Rosie....or Maybe Not....

StephF — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 20:02:00 GMT

The other day, my mom was at my Grandma and Grandpa's, and on their back porch was a little kitten. Since we have a new barn without a barn cat, my mom brought it home to live at our house. At first we thought that it was a she....or we just assumed so, since every animal we get is always a girl. My poor dad is pretty much a loner around here. But then we realized that Rosie (thats what I named it) is actually a boy...haha. (We're really observant aren't we?) So, we haven't decided on a name just yet, but we are considering Nigel and Duncan. For now though, he is known as stink-eye...haha...since his left eye is kind of messed up. He is a little rebel....he loves to get into trouble, and he also likes to come in the house and lay in front of our a/c vents when it is hot outside...haha. Here are a few photos of him, check out the adorableness that is happening here.... :)

Here is the update on the "What is Stephanie doing this summer?" situation. I had an interview for a position today....YESSS!!! How exciting is that?? Hopefully that will turn out alright....or much better than alright actually! But I also just found out about a new program they are starting here in my hometown that is called "HomeTown Competitiveness". Basically, it aims to help small rural communities become stronger. This is a great opportunity for our community, and it is something that I really want to get involved in, so I've been talking to a friend from church about getting involved with that. I LOVE being involved!!! So with that and serving at Hoosier Girls State, and being in Miss Pike County, and doing cool things with my friends, I think I will be set this summer. :)

My Day of Birth=Happiness!!

StephF — Fri, 29 May 2009 05:09:00 GMT

So something really exciting happened the other day....it was my birthday! I love to make my birthday celebration last as long as possible, for like a week, kinda like it's Hanukkah. I had celebrations with my friends, my grandparents, my parents, and even more combinations of those....haha. Getting older makes me nervous.....but at the same time I know that it's good and that it brings a fun time, and even better food! I got to go to my favorite Mexican place with my friends, my favorite Chinese place with my grandparents, and to my favorite Amish place with all of my family. Ohh how I love birthdays! Here I am with my birthday fried ice cream and sombrero....delicious....... :)

So if you have been following my recent blogs, you know that I have been searching for jobs, and I still have had no luck. :( I've applied at even more places....but everywhere pretty much has all of their positions filled for now. :( I am starting to come to terms with my lack of activity a little bit more every day...and now I think I will be content with my summer either way. I have to get my wisdom teeth taken out in about two weeks, I am helping out with some things at my old studio and with 4-H, I am going to be in a pageant, and I think that I will be able to work at Girls State as well! So I think that all of this will keep me pretty darn busy....and I will still have tons of fun things to do! :) But it would be even better if I could find a job! So let's keep hoping.....

I've been home from school for almost an entire month now...and I miss it so much!! It's really nice to be home, and I love getting to see all of my family and friends here, but that also means that I don't get to see my friends from school, which is really really sad!! I live really far away from most of my best friends from school, except for my friends Tommy and Taryn (she's from my hometown too), so I probably won't get to see any of them unless we organize a reunion or something in Indy....which is really sad! I knew I was going to miss them....but we're barely into the summer and I miss them soo much than I thought I would. It feels so weird just not going back to Butler at the end of every weekend....and never having to pack up all of my stuf...but I like that part, because packing and hauling all of my stuff is my least favorite thing about going to college. But hopefully I will get to see my friends sometime soon....because I don't think I can make it to August!

So this is what it feels like to have free time....

StephF — Wed, 20 May 2009 04:20:00 GMT

I have been home for two weeks now....and still....no job. I am starting to go a tad bit stir-crazy....so I need to find something to do this summer ASAP! I thrive off of being busy every moment of every day, so I have felt extremely strange and useless lately. I keep turning in applications and finding new opportunities, but nothing has been decided just yet. :( I am really anxious to hear back though, because depending on where I get hired and how flexible they are with my hours, I might be able to be a volunteer staff member at Hoosier Girls State! (If you don't know what that is, it is a program put on by the American Legion Auxillary to teach incoming senior girls about their local, county, and state governments.) I went 2 summers ago, and loved every minute of it, so naturally I wanted to go back as a counselor if I could. Last summer I was to busy with showing cattle in 4-H to go, but this summer I'm not in 4-H, so I would love to be able to go!! But I will hopefully be working somewhere by then, and I didn't want to tell them that I could go, and then get a job and realize that it is not possible...so I really hope that it works out. When you go to Girls (or Boys) State, you are put into cities, and the people in your city are the ones that you live with all week. Each city has a social and a government counselor, and if I have the opportunity to go, I will probably end up being a social counselor for one of the cities. When I went, I was a Nationalist (my party), and I lived in Newman city. We Newmanities were pretty awesome....and here is a photo of us to prove it...two of us are even at Butler if that tells you how cool we are! :)

So get ready because this Thursday, So You Think You Can Dance starts a new season! I am basically obsessed with this show, and I am so excited to see all of the amazingly talented dancers who audition this year. So look forward to me probably talking about it a lot.... :) I am pretty much just a big fan of TV of all kinds....so I have been glued to my TV every night for the finales of my favorite shows, and now I can't wait until September to find out who Mike marries on Desperate Housewives, or if Izzy and George die on Grey's Anatomy....but my favorite was The Office's finale....because Jim and Pam are most likely having a baby....but we aren't positive because they haven't told us yet....but it is still so exciting! All of these intense finales have been great, because they have given me something to do besides fill out job applications lately. Now if I just didn't have to wait until September!! Ah!