NEWS FLASH!

NOTE: I am looking for middle school students to speak to about making smart choices. There is no cost to the schools for this service. Let me know if there is a school in your area of Indiana that I could come and speak with.

The 10th Anniversary of Miss Southern Heartland 2009

Happy 10th Anniversary Miss Southern Heartland! I had my first foray into being a Mistress of Ceremonies at Miss Southern Heartland 2009. Megan Thwaites and I both had a great time being with all of the contestants and staff of this amazing program. I was also able to talk about all of the memories I have of the Miss Southern Heartland program from competing way back in 2005 to the birth of “The Trio” at last year’s competition. It was also exciting to see the winner’s names before everyone else. I also learned to get the correct pronunciation of EVERYONES name before the competition!! We also had the first ever Miss Southern Heartland’s judges competition. Each of the 10 judges was scored on their wave and then later in the pageant we cut to a top five for “in-seat questions.” Mark Wiley was named 4th runner-up (and would have been winner had he said I was his favorite Miss Indiana and not his daughter Miss Indiana 2004. Mark was a good sport), Amanda Zachary was 3rd runner-up, Tonya Cooper Wilson was 2nd runner-up, Leslie Popplewell was 1st runner-up for her outstanding answer to the longest most ridiculous question ever asked about the economy/new president/education/and maps…such as…., and Sarah Wiley Goude was named the winner because of her outstanding skills of selling the audience to come to Katie’s homecoming in March! Megan Thwaites and I will be emceeing the upcoming Miss Sagamore Valley / South Central pageant, so the judges better be prepared! The first Miss Southern Heartland’s Outstanding Teen is Madison Seifert and Miss Southern Heartland 2009 is Heather Brown. Good luck to both of you at state. On a side note Madison and her first runner-up, Heather Blickenstaff, are both from my hometown. When they were very young their dance group provided entertainment between segments of the first pageant I won. Man I am getting old!

XOXO

Megan

Miss Indiana 2008

Happy Valentine’s Day Auburn!

On Valentine’s Day I assisted at my high school show choir invitational. I met up with my former show choir director and her husband during the preliminary show. My former show choir director, Shelley, was so excited to see me and said, “I have the most royalty in the state!” I graduated from DeKalb High School in 2003 and was in our mixed show choir and my sister queen, Megan Thwaites, is a current junior at DeKalb High School and a member of my school’s girl’s choir. Shelley also has 4 former/current students that will be at Miss Indiana and Miss Indiana’s Outstanding Teen this June! At the competition I modeled a necklace that was raffled off and helped hand out awards for the preliminary and final winners. I also signed some autographs for some high school students. Some of the middle school kids came up to give me candy for valentine’s day and one high school boy colored me a picture from a Disney coloring book of an evening gown and he told me I should wear it at my next event…it was so cute. I took the opportunity as I met so many of these talented singers/dancers to recruit for the Miss America Organization. Many of the students were from Indiana and surrounding states so hopefully they will be competing for Miss Indiana, Miss Ohio, or Miss Illinois soon!

XOXO

Megan

Miss Indiana 2008

Who Says Friday the 13th is a Day of Bad Luck?!

On Friday the 13th, I had a jammed packed day……….just the way I like them. I headed back to my hometown of Auburn for the first time since being named Miss Indiana and for the first time since a week before Miss America (I have been living out of the same 2 suitcases for too long!). I started off at Froggy 106.7 radio in Auburn, joining Woodrow and Taylor on their morning show. We talked about my pageant experiences and what got me started in the world of pageantry. Then they had a radio contest and the winner won a box of gourmet chocolates. There were two questions and the first question was: What is Megan Meadors favorite type of chocolate, A. caramel, B. peanut butter, or C. coconut? It took quite a while to get a winner because no one was guessing coconut! I learned at a young age that if you like coconut there will always be a lot of chocolates left in the box as very few people seem to prefer coconut! I then traveled south to Fort Wayne. This turned out to be one of my most favorite appearances since I have been involved with this program, visiting America’s heroes at the VA hospitals in Fort Wayne and Marion. Having a background in health care this was the perfect appearance for me. I love to meet people and hear their stories. The Fort Wayne VA is mostly for patients with physical conditions who are staying for short periods of time. I started out in ICU which thankfully only had 1 patient because this is where the sickest of the sick reside. The nurses in ICU also wanted my autograph and I had fun telling them all about our new Miss America! I also met some female veterans! One in particular was my “dimple twin!” I was always teased in high school by the older students that my dimples were a birth defect but she informed me that they were angle kisses…I like her explanation soooo much better! One veteran was getting a breathing treatment in his room so I came back later and asked if he wanted to take a picture with me. I told him I would knell down by his bed for the picture and he said, “No way I’m gonna stand up for this.” He jumped out of bed and we had our picture taken! I met his doctor outside in the hall and he said “having Miss Indiana here sure seems to be good for my patient’s health!” After visiting with the vets, the Director of Volunteer Service said he loved how I interacted with the patients and he invited me to be in the Veteran’s Day parade later this year. I told him I would love to but that I won’t be the reigning Miss Indiana at that time. He said that was fine and that he still wanted me to be a part of the festivities. I was very honored and look forward to that parade later this year! After I left the hospital, I headed to Marion. The Marion VA is more of a long term psych hospital, nursing home, hospice, and also partial-hospitalization program for vets struggling to overcome addiction secondary to being in combat. I had a blast with all of these vets! I first visited the locked psych units and so many of these vets were so excited to get their picture with me and have me give them an autograph. Valentine’s Day was the next day so I also gave out valentine gift bags provided by local school children and community organizations. In one unit the residents wrote me a valentine’s card and gave me chocolate hugs and kisses. While visiting the hospital one of the residents was very excited to show me his room. He is Irish and we both have the same shamrock blanket because my birthday is St. Patrick’s Day. Also I was so excited to see one of my former patients who had suffered a spinal cord injury. He was my patient when I was completing my clinical at a hospital in Ft. Wayne. This just made my day to hear how much progress he is making!! It was also exciting that so many of the vets knew about Katie’s win and said “it’s about time Indiana won.” When the program was in her hay day, these men were young and Miss America was a household name. I feel Katie is bringing Miss America back to this standard!! Later that evening I met up with one of my Miss Pride of Indiana directors, Boo Birk, for some sushi and catching up. Boo, Deb, and Tom were amazing directors and I love to meet up with them whenever I can! All in all the perfect day!

XOXO

Megan

Miss Indiana 2008

Miss Cosmopolitan 2009

Miss Cosmopolitan was my first appearance as Miss Indiana with my pageant family. I arrived early to wish all of the contestants good luck backstage and wish Katherine, Josh, and Joe a smooth first Miss Cosmo pageant! I was able to sit up front with the Miss Indiana board and Mr. America, Brian Irk. Frank gave me the rundown of Katie’s homecoming and I was able to sell it to the audience during my interview on stage. It was wonderful to be with my pageant family. I was surprised at the number of people who I had never met who said they had been supporters of me through my years of competing and were so excited that I was the new Miss Indiana. I must admit that it was so nice to hear their words of support and love. Brittany Hagan was crowned Miss Cosmopolitan and I wish her the best of luck at Miss Indiana in June…sure did LOVE her talent song ;)!

XOXO

Megan

Miss Indiana 2008

Snow in Valpo

Early the following week, I headed north to Washington Township Elementary in LaPorte Indiana. I was speaking at a convocation for their 4th and 5th grade classes celebrating the honor role students. I went to work at 6 am (one of the joys of being an Occupational Therapist is a flexible schedule) and left at 10am to head up to LaPorte. As I traveled north, snow began to fall and the closer I got the more it snowed. Little did I know that this part of the state was under a Winter Storm Warning expecting 18” of snow! I arrived at the school an hour early thanks to the amazing secretary who helped me find the school. Once I arrived at the school I had my first “sash and crown” moment in the bathroom of the school nurse’s office…not what I always dreamed of but I was very excited as put on the crown Lauren Allen, Miss Illinois 2005 had let me borrow and Katie’s Miss Indiana sash. I met with the principle and he gave me a rundown of the convocation. I was to speak for 15 minutes about setting and reaching goals and never giving up…I bet you can figure out the story I was going to tell. After my speech I was to sing two songs and then help pass out awards to the students. Well like I said it was snowing and the superintendant of schools called to tell the principle that he was dismissing school early. I learned right away that a Miss Indiana MUST be flexible! The principle called the 4th and 5th grade students down early, I shortened my speech to 5 minutes, sang one song, and helped pass out awards and STILL had time for some photos and autographs! It was a wonderful first appearance as Miss Indiana and I was able to use all of the skills I had learned over my years of competing! Some of the kids were so excited to meet me and get my autograph. It just blows my mind that people would be excited to meet me…I really don’t feel worthy of that kind of reaction! I signed my picture, book bags, notebooks, and even the children’s awards! One little boy in particular sat in the back of the bleachers mouthing call me and after the presentations gave me his card with his website…man have things changed since I was in 4th grade! His dad was there too and I told him…”keep your eye on that one!” On my way back to Indianapolis there was a white out and it took me about 3 times as long to get home because conditions were so bad. All this made for a memorable first appearance and a great start of my “year” as Miss Indiana!

XOXO

Megan

Miss Indiana 2008

WAJI Radio Interview

My first “appearance” as Miss Indiana 2008 was a phone interview with the morning team of Dirk and Jeannett from WAJI, Majic 95.1 FM in Fort Wayne. I am their CMN representative. We talked about my trip to Las Vegas to watch Katie win Miss America and my new duties as Miss Indiana. I will be teaming with WAJI at various events in Northeast Indiana. I am especially excited to be returning to Tapestry: A Day for Women. Clinton Kelly from TLC’s “What Not to Wear” is the keynote speaker and I was lucky enough to meet him in Las Vegas at Miss America.

XOXO

Megan

Miss Indiana 2008