Miss Ohio Sweeps

Although I did not win a sparkly ticket to Miss Ohio 2011, I am so happy for the girls who did. Priya (Miss Huron County), Ashley (Miss Buckeye State), Alyssa W.(Miss Willard), Alyssa P. (Miss Ohio River), Jenna (Miss Mohican Valley), and Alicia (Miss Heart of Ohio) deserved this opportunity and I am proud of each of them. I am so glad I was able to spend my whole day (8 am to 9 pm!) with a group of classy, intelligent, talented, beautiful, and just fabulous young women. A special shout out goes to miss Jessica for assuming the title of Miss Cuyahoga County. I'm so very happy that she gets to compete at Miss Ohio for the first time this summer. After all of the work she puts into her platform and preparation she definitely deserves this opportunity.

I will continue to compete in the Miss America Organization next season. Miss Cuyahoga County/Miss Greater Cleveland is set for July 16th, just four months away, and you can sure bet that I'm already preparing for next season.

After Sweeps, I got to thinking about my platform, "The Benefits of Volunteering." I love the idea of promoting how people aren't just benefiting their communities but also benefiting themselves when they volunteer; however, I do a lot of work with Habitat For Humanity and love the mission of this great organization. So I'm thinking about changing my platform to focus on Habitat, but I'm not sure about it yet.

What are your thoughts? Should I continue with the platform that I have, "The Benefits of Volunteering," which I do volunteer for various organizations quite a bit (American Cancer Society's Relay For Life, St. Jude's Children's Research Hospitals, Children's Miracle Network, Women's Cardiac Care, etc), or should I change it to focus on Habitat For Humanity, which I am Ashland University chapter's Off-Campus Fundraising Chair/Local Builds Chair and Collegiate Challenge Spring Break participant? Or even focusing on  a different organization that I volunteer for, women's cardiac care, perhaps? All of these organizations I feel passionately about (I don't do something unless I do!), so it's hard for to to choose just one. What to do, what to do.

As for interview, I am starting to feel more comfortable in the interview room and talking to the judges, but I would really like to work on my interview skills before next season. As I said in my previous post, I'm ready to kick my pageant training up a notch. I'm ready to do what it takes to win. Better interview is where it starts, since it is often believed that the pageant is won in the interview room.

Now that the Miss Ohio 2011 Class is complete, I congratulate all of you on winning your perspective titles and wish each of you the best of luck during Miss Ohio Week!

With Love,
Aslhiegh Jarzenski

Swimsuit

Evening Gown during Sweeps 1

Introduction

On Stage Questions during Sweeps 1

Beautiful Contestants!

On Stage Questions Sweeps 2

Thank you to Ross Clark of Roark Studios for the beautiful pictures!

A March Update

Well I'm back from spring break and getting ready to finish my first year as an Ashland University student. The rest of the semester is filled with mixers, Greek Week, Alpha Phi and Tau Kappa Epsilon formals, Relay For Life, Habitat For Humanity local builds, applying for summer jobs, and of course heaping amounts of papers and class projects.

Saturday is the last local preliminary for Miss Ohio 2011, the Miss Ohio Sweeps competition. 2 pageants. 6 crowns. 6 girls going to Miss Ohio. Will I be one of those lucky girls with a sparkly ticket to the Miss Ohio stage? I hope so, but I know win or lose, I will be back next season even stronger. It's amazing to see how much I've grown as a person in the short amount of time that I have been involved in the Miss America Organization and I hope to continue that growth until I age out, or am lucky enough to be crowned Miss Ohio. Win or lose, you can be sure to bet I will be working my butt off this summer (literally) in preparation for next season. New talent; better interview; killer body; to-die-for dress. I'm ready to kick it up a notch.

The past few weeks have been pretty crazy! Right before spring break, Alpha Phi held the seventh annual Mr. University Pageant. The event was tons of fun, with both faculty and students attending. I was selected to escort my boyfriend, who competed as Mr. Kappa Kappa Psi, a band honorary. Out of 26 contestants, he made the Top 5 and competed in personality in introduction, talent, and on-stage interview. He played a medley of songs on his trumpet for talent, and did very well with the on-stage interview. I was impressed. His answers were genuine and articulate. I would be dating the male pageant contender. Hahah

A few of the lovely escorts for Mr. University

(Katie, Candy, Me, Kara, Kim, and Nicole)

I spent my spring break in Columbus, Georgia building houses with Habitat For Humanity's Collegiate Challenge. I had a great time and it was such a rewarding experience. I traveled with 40 Ashland students and we met up with 250 students from schools across the country. All together we built 6 houses, two of which were built by the Ashland team. 

Habitat For Humanity is such a great organization to give back to. I love their "hand up, not a hand out" philosophy. Through this philosophy, the organization inspires hope in its homeowners which inspires them to give back, get better jobs, and lead better lives.

The house when we arrived Monday morning

The Ashland Habitat for Humanity Team with one of our houses

With Love,

Ashliegh

Spring Break Can't Come Soon Enough!

Spring Break is just a three short days away! This year, I will be travelling to Columbus, Georgia with Ashland University's Habitat For Humanity chapter and 250 other college students from around the country. During the trip 40 Ashland students will be building two houses from the ground up.

As many of you know, I've been hard at work fundraising for the trip as the Off Campus Fundraiser, but many of you don't know that I've been hard at work as the techie, too! (Never thought that word would be used to describe me, haha.) Make sure to check out our blog starting on Saturday for daily updates during the trip! I will be posting blog posts, video blogs, photos, and more here.

With Love,
Ashliegh