Miss Florida USA Faces

With her departure date only a few days away it was time for a goodbye soiree! So in the honor of Miss Florida Teen USA 2007 Annilie Hastey over 100 of our Miss Florida USA Family members migrated to the soundstages of The Hollywood Production Center for one fun night of friendship and pageantry. The event was a BYOT party. That would mean Bring Your Own Tiara and the bling was all over the room!

Miss Misener; Miss Provenza; Miss Chaban, Miss Rivera, Miss Arango and Miss Vilomar

With the pageant starting on Sunday the talk of the evening was our national championship of pageantry. It was great to see several of our preliminary pageant directors and Florida Teen USA titleholders who came out to support Miss Hastey. It was also great to see pageant sponsors Bob Lasky, Mark Durso and of course Carey O’Neil from Reagalia who mingled during the evening. A big thanks also goes to Pollo Tropical who provided the evenings food.

Up next starts our daily reports from Miss Teen USA beginning Monday only at www.MissFloridaTeenUSA.com! Until then enjoy the pictures from Tuesday Evening.

Miss Misener; Miss Provenza; Miss Chaban and Miss Rivera (left) & The Rivera family

Emily Provenza, who will represent Collier County in the Miss Florida Teen USA pageant in October, recently returned from a two-week trip to Peru where she went on a mission trip to teach English classes at the local schools in Marca Bamba.

"Due to the strike that started two weeks prior to our arrival, we had to be flexible with our plans," explained Emily. "The strike that is still going on to this day is due to the government requiring all teachers in Peru to take a standardized test. The Union, for the teachers has stepped in and is demanding that the government take this law away. Until then, all schools have been shut down, resulting in different struggles for each town."

She still had the opportunity to interact with children and adults from the poorest regions in Peru. "We began our trip by flying in to Lima Peru and staying there for the first night. The next morning we started our journey of the "marathon drive," driving approximately 20 hours," the 17-year-old said. "Making our way up the mountain of 7,000 ft. altitude on one lane dirt roads was quite an adventure. Once arriving at Marca Bamba, I spent the majority of my time making relationships with the young girls in the town. What really amazed me was how much the kids loved spending time with all of us. At nights we put on shows for the town with songs, skits and Bible stories. In the town of Marca Bamba is a good size recreation area that we were able to paint and give a brand new look to. With help from some of the towns people, we finished the area in no time."

Emily returned home with lots of stories and a deeper understanding of the reality of other countries. "I walked away from this trip filled with experiences that taught me so many new things. I now feel as if I've grown more into a woman. Strong, independent and most of all confident in who I am. The Peruvians I met, showed me a new perspective on life. How the simple things in life are usually the most fulfilling and how to enjoy every moment in life."

"Never forgetting all that happened and all I saw, I hope to go back some day to help stop all the poverty that inhabits Peru," she added. "This was by far one of my most challenging and less glamorize trips that I've ever taken. But non-the-less I feel very blessed to have taken this kind of trip at such a young age. Opening my eyes to the world beyond my borders, I have a better understanding of how I can help."

» Kudos & Did You Knows

- Kudos to Samantha Misener, Miss Naples Teen USA 2008 and Emily Provenza, Miss Collier County Teen USA on being special guests at the American Red Cross, Collier County chapter, summer camp August 2. The girls interacted with all the campers during the safe babysitting classes, where they talked about their own experience babysitting and guided the group through the exercises that included infant CPR, room safety, feeding and diaper changing. Way to get involved Samantha and Emily!

We will add new pictures daily for the next few weeks from The Miss Florida USA 2008 Pageant exclusively at http://virb.com/1022102202612798. Today we added our production camera pictures from opening day! So many pictures, so much storage space! Only from Miss Florida USA.

» PICTURES & STORIES WANTED!

If you enjoy reading the stories of our Miss Florida USA Family and want us to know what great things are happening either during or after you reign please email us at telair@aol.com. We love touting our sorority of outstanding Florida women. Please send us a paragraph (or two) on your appearances, awards or community service and include pictures. We want you to have all of the support of this great lifestyle we call Miss Florida USA!

» Alumni News Wanted!

If you know of any Miss Florida USA alumni in the news please drop us an email to feature them in future articles. Email all info to info@missfloridausa.com! Until next week here to good pageantry!

PICTURE OF THE WEEK!

With a definite theme of Miss Teen USA this week our POTW Committee found this great picture of Miss Teen USA 2007 in The Turks & Caicos admiring Florida’s favorite crustacean The Conch. So with islands, summer and teen pageantry on our mind here’s August 10^th Picture of The Week!