From queen to real life

Summer fun! Woo hoo—what an awesome reward for a challenging freshman year at Centre. I'm reacquainting myself with television, movies, reading books for MY OWN pleasure, scrap booking, playing with my dog...REAL LIFE! I've missed it so.

Well my summer couldn't have started better, being crowned Queen of the Mountain Laurel at the Kentucky Mountain Laurel Festival pageant in Pineville. I was selected to represent Centre as a queen candidate in the pageant. From May 24-27 girls from all the colleges around Kentucky compete for the title as "Queen" of the Mountain Laurel (it's a flower that only grows in the eastern mountains of Kentucky/Tennessee.) Check out the website kmlf.org to understand the history of this old, traditional pageant.

Over the course of 3 days all the girls attend luncheons and dinner parties, mingling with all the prominent figures of Pineville (city of less than 3,000 people.) A panel of judges, whose identities are unknown, observe each girl's manners, poise, character, and personality. Then, on the final day, all the girls dress in white wedding dresses and long white gloves and go to the Laurel Cove (an outside amphitheater with a reflecting pool in the middle) to perform a creative, yet elegant curtsey to the governor of Kentucky. After observing the substance of the girls throughout the week, this curtsey becomes a final deciding factor of who becomes Queen. I was so nervous about my curtsey because it was indeed creative. When we were all practicing our curtsies before going out, I noticed that so many of them looked alike! I was confident in the curtsey I created, but I was afraid I would stand out too much. I guess I stood out in a good way though!

Oh it was sooo exciting when they announced "And your 2007 Queen of the Mountain Laurel is...Centre College...Sarah...Elisabeth...Hargis." Haha, just thinking about it again makes me so happy and I can't stop smiling as I type this! It was so beautiful. They attached this long train around my shoulders and gave me a scepter and big bouquet to hold as I walked back down to the reflecting pool to be crowned by Governor Ernie Fletcher. As I slowly walked down the steps to be crowned, they played "Dream the Impossible Dream." It was almost like a fairytale. The whole event was unique in its tradition and so beautiful that for me to be crowned as the QUEEN of it was such a wonderful surprise, and really a true honor. Not only was it exciting for me personally (receiving the crown, a beautiful heavy silver tray, and a $3,000 scholarship check!), but I was so excited to bring Centre "back on the charts" as I say to people. Centre hadn't won the pageant since Mary Elizabeth Dedman in 1967! It had been 40 years! I couldn't WAIT to tell them. Oh I was so glad to represent my school. I'm so proud of it and hoped to make it proud in return.

So now-a-days, I'm still retelling the story and all the details of winning the crown to family and friends and getting teased with the "Oh Queen Sarah...," but I have also now started my volunteer work at Girls Inc. in Owensboro Kentucky. I'm working from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., helping with their summer program. I've realized more this year that I really love working with kids, girls especially. I love taking on the position as a steady role model in each of their lives. My mission at the program is to empower them: "Inspiring Girls to be Strong, Smart, and Bold" (as the Girls Inc. motto goes.)

Though my summer is definitely full, I'm enjoying the "return to real life" and trying to savour every minute of it.