This past week was filled with activities; interviews, speaking engagements, galas, meetings and weddings! I traveled from Orlando to Jupiter, Ft Lauderdale to Davie on to Miami up to Howey-in-the-Hills and back down to Disney. I am home in Orlando now and am taking a deep breath while recapping all the fun.
I started my week by visiting an old friend at Boone High School in Orlando. I really should not say 'old' as she is a young lady graduating from high school about to embark on her college years, but I met her my first season dancing for the Orlando Magic. 2004-2005 marked the last year that the Magic had the Jr Magic Dance Team. Since then, marketing created the Magic Minis which are dancers under the age of 12 who are in the company at Starz Dance Studio. Anyway, Brittani was my Jr. Magic Dancer for one of the Magic games that first season. She basically shadowed me for an entire game which allows for a lot of bonding time. I have not seen her since 2005, so it was a real treat to see her 5 years later!
Well, the reason I was visiting her was because she is now in TV production at Boone High School and is interviewing former students and people in the area who are doing amazing things. Her interviews will be compiled, edited, and aired to the students at her school and will be seen online as well. We spent about an hour catching up on old times and filming the actual interview. I am so proud of her and all of her accomplishments! Brittani is a stand-out student and will be a force to be reckoned with in the TV production world! Best of luck in college Brittani!
Tuesday Nov 17th
The next morning was pretty neat. I had my first opportunity to speak to two high school classes at Crooms Academy in Sanford. I attended TEACH IN which is a program in Seminole County where professionals come into the school system to speak to the students about various careers and hobbies. Crooms is a technology school so I felt like I could relate to these kids. I had an entire period (47 minutes) to speak to Mrs Hopkinson's 1st period class (9th grade English I Honors) and then Ms Fox's 2nd period class (11th and 12th grade Physics). I told the kids about my journey living overseas, being an Orlando Magic Dancer, my time in pageantry, and of course receiving my bachelors of science in electrical engineering from UCF. It was interesting to hear the questions after my presentation. They were all across the board. Everything from attending UCF, to living in Japan, and being a female in a male dominated field. I was excited to see that some students stayed after class to ask more questions.
Organizer of TEACH IN , Cathy Alper and Principle Collins
After the presentation, I was escorted by a student to meet Principle Collins who happens to be Florida's Principle of the Year! She is a really neat woman who values her students, staff and faculty. She credited them for her success. But I know first hand that success is all about leadership and Principle Collin is an exemplary leader! Congratulations Principle Collins!
By 10am, I was out the door and on my way to meet Jaime Stuve and Kathleen Glover at the Jupiter Lighthouse Museum in my hometown of Jupiter. We discussed my new project Climb for Cure and scheduled my appearance at their 150th Anniversary Celebration on January 10th of the new year. Kathleen and Jaime were incredibly helpful in putting me in touch with all the Florida Lighthouses as well as some VIPs from the Florida Lighthouse Association. I am so excited about this new adventure and I look forward to promoting the new Florida Lighthouse License Plate. $25.00 from the sale of each tag will be used for the preservation and restoration of the 29 remaining historic lighthouses in our great state. If you are interested in purchasing a tag, please visit http://saveourlights.com/ .
I had about 30 minutes to visit my mom and then back on the road for the Unveiling of the Fazzino commemorative poster for Superbowl XLIV. This Feb 7th, 2010 will be the 10th time the Superbowl has made an appearance in Miami which is the most visited city in the history of the Superbowl. For the last 10 consecutive years Charles Fazzino has done the artwork for the Superbowl and in the last few years he has made his artwork three dimensional.
Tuesday, Charles unveiled his art at Bokamper's in Plantation. Former NFL player and owner of Bokampers, Kim Bokamper, was the host while Miami Dolphins defensive end Randy Starks, president of the host committee Mike Zimmer and chairman of the host committee Rodney Baretto were all in attendance to assist with the presentation. I had the honor of assisting with the unveiling of the first ever officially licensed NFL Superbowl Humidor.
It was an awesome event, I met some incredible people from the the South Florida Community. Randy Stark, Charles Fazzino, and Rodney Baretto
I ended up arriving in Miami around 9pm after leaving my apartment at 6:20am that morning! WHEW! Long day, but so much fun! I went to bed knowing that I could sleep in on Wednesday and my ONLY obligation would be to shop through the Bejeweled warehouse and pick out all my favorite clothes for a new 'jewelified' wardobe...lol Susan Fixel is the creator of Bejeweled and was one of my judges at the 2010 Miss Florida USA pageant! I cannot say enough about Susan. She is so sweet and is so humble. Thank you Susan for my new Bejeweled Wardrobe! cannot wait to come back for Holiday shopping :)
This post is really lengthy so I will finish up my week tomorrow :)
Until Next Time!
Megan Clementi
Miss Florida USA 2010
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