March Madness!

On Tuesday March 6th I visited Briarwood Elementary for their science fair. I’m not sure who was more excited me or the children. I had just received my autograph cards (cards with my pictures on them to sign for the children) and I was very excited to share them with anyone who asked. I really felt like a celebrity!  I also had the opportunity to share with them a little about me and my Platform.  Fortunately for me I learned quite a bit about them at the same time.  I went to the Science Fair with my friend Suzy who is the chair for the Cupertino Relay for Life in which I participate with my team Crowns For a Cure. She is also amazing in all that she does, such as her frequent support and volunteering for the Special Olympics which I have recently with her help started to get involved in myself. She is truly inspiring with how busy she is and how many amazing causes she helps with. Each of the children at the Science Fair had the chance to spin the wheel and answer a question about cancer depending on what the wheel landed on. It was a great way to share some knowledge that they may not normally hear with the children and they each won a prize for participating which is what they were mostly excited about. Suzy purchased sticky hands and bouncy balls which went much quicker than the pencils. Among the children were some of the Miss Santa Clara princesses, so I was excited to be reunited with them and see how they were doing. They have all grown so much! Thank you to Briarwood Elementary for having me!

My Birthday was on Thursday March 8th and I turned 24. I feel like I am getting so old, but I am  also so proud of all of the amazing things that I have already been able to accomplish at the young age of 24. Michael took me to dinner at  Alexander’s Steak house and we had a phenomenal dinner of steak and potatoes. It was so fancy we didn’t even know what to do with ourselves.  I am so blessed to not only have so many people who love me, but to have him as such a great support system. He is what helps motivate me to get all of the things in my busy schedule done each day. I am especially lucky because he had to take me out on my birthday dinner the day before my birthday since I had a meeting the night of my actual birthday. At work on Thursday morning I was surprised to be greeted  with lots of cards, drawings and flowers from my students. Whom were just as excited about my birthday as I was. Many of which had been going home telling their parents “It’s almost Miss Caitlin’s birthday!” for weeks now. So they were very pleased to finally give me the gifts that they had put so much thought into. and carefully selected. My class and I celebrated at the end of the day with a popsicle party : )

On Saturday March 10th I had the opportunity to throw the opening pitch at Homestead Little League with the mayor. This was by far way up on my list of my favorite appearances so far. Upon arriving many asked if I would be singing the national anthem, which I would never subject anyone to hearing me sing, so when finding out that I would be throwing the opening pitch they were skeptical. I met the mayor of Santa Clara Jamie Mathews, exchanged a few stories about my time as Miss Santa Clara so far, and him being the mayor, and threw a pitch simultaneously to his. The mayor told me I gave him a run for his money so of course I was flattered. My only goal was to make it to the catcher and not throw it at the ground or make a fool of myself. Prior to throwing it Michael warmed up with me, along with one of the older pitcher’s and I wasn’t feeling very confident about my arm, so of course when the ball made it all the way to the catcher I was jumping with joy inside.  After pitching many of the onlooker’s came to me and expressed how great I did and that I may have a career in pitching someday. Clearly they were just being generous, but I was pleased with my accomplishment either way. This day will defiantly be something that I will always remember not only for being able to throw the opening pitch, but also for meeting the Mayor of the city I love so much. I hope to educate all of the future Miss Santa Clara’s about this event because I’m sure they will enjoy it as well. A  huge Thank you to Homestead Baseball for having me!

Also, this month I visited the last of our local pageants before we all head off to Miss California in a few weeks, Miss Redwood City and Miss Gavilan Hills. As always there were many talented girls, and I was able to meet even more of the new local titleholder’s as we sat in the audience and watched. I can’t wait to head to Fresno in April for Orientation and be able to meet everyone all in one place and finally feel like this journey is starting. I have had many memorable stops so far, but I can’t wait to meet the Sisterhood of girls that makes up the Miss California class of 2012. We have so many amazing memories that are waiting to take place! This year there will be 57 girls, that just proves how many talented girls the state of California has. These judges will really have their work cut out for them.

Last week I visited my church St.Justin’s elementary school. I visited every class from Kindergarten all the way up to eighth grade. Answered crazy amounts of questions all the way from which celebrities have you met, to talking about when my Mom was diagnosed with cancer.  It was really nice to have the chance to talk to so many different ages because there are so many different things that they bring to the table and share. In the Kindergarten classroom you would have someone raise their hand to ask a question, but instead share a comment about “this one time when they went to Disneyland and met a princess”. The fourth grader’s defiantly had the best questions all the way across the board. They really asked me questions that made me think, and it felt like an actual interview. They not only wanted to know about what the job as Miss Santa Clara entailed, but why there wasn’t a Mr. Santa Clara, if I would bring them chocolate chip cookies next time I came, why my hair was partly blonde and brown (my roots!) and many other questions that kept me on my toes and made me think. The eighth graders were by far the funniest. The questions ranged from very serious to completely off the wall funny. One of the boys even asked if he could wear my crown to which his peers replied “you have no hair!” By far the most rewarding part to me was being to share my Mom’s story and educating them about how important it is to encourage our family members and loved one’s to get checked, and to never have that “It will never happen to me attitude”, like me and so many other young people have. If I could touch just one of their lives and make a difference, that would mean everything to me to know I made a difference. I felt like I could be so much more honest with the older children and explain how I really felt a bout my Mom being diagnosed. Many of the girls were excited by the bling of the crown, and I expressed how amazing this program has been to me and my life, so I’m hoping that I encouraged them to come out and be a future Miss Santa Clara.  For my first visit to an elementary school to talk about my journey I was greatly pleased with all of the attentive students with such inquisitive little minds.

Now to answer the questions I know everyone is wondering: what’s with the ducks. My love for ducks started many years ago and I can’t pinpoint exactly what it is about them, but they make me smile. Have you ever seen a sad duck? I sure haven’t and who wouldn’t want to be that happy all of the time? Not a care in the world. Anyways, even though I would love to have pet ducks some day, I am only babysitting them on the weekend for now. I’m not sure my two cats would be very pleased with ducks as a new addition. Last month we were talking about the life cycle in my classroom, and our Principal’s allowed the children to all participate in incubating the eggs and watching them grow. The ducks are now four weeks old and growing like weeds. Apple Tree (the big one) more so than Daffodil. (The children named them.) They are both the same age, but they are different species so that explains why they are different sizes. I know there have been many questions so I just wanted to make sure everyone knew a little more about my little friends. I’m hoping to find them a great home, so let me know if anyone needs a new sweet, loveable pet.

Bye for now!

As always thanks for reading!

XOXO

Caitlin