I used to be a dancer believe it or not! I attended Jackie Sweeney's Creative dance studio and have known her for almost all of my life. Jackie is the definition of an influential role model in our community and she often takes the time to make sure every one of her students feel comfortable and special as an individual. My longtime friend Sara White still takes lessons from Jackie to this day and I visited them last night at their dance class! I had gone to show the girls my apparel for the Miss Fulton County pageant a few months prior and they were very active and expressive about their opinions on my wardrobe and just talking to me and having a good time in general :) Because of their outstanding opinions, I decided to tweak a few things and I now have a title! So I went back to thank them and to watch their new dances for the recital in May! Sara has been deaf since a very young age and learned sign language in an extremely short amount of time. She is absolutely amazing at being able to communicate this way. Jackie has chosen songs for Sara to sign as the rest of her class signs with her in the background. This was so heartwarming for me to see because when we were in elementary school I often stood between Sara and bullies. This is no longer a reality for Sara at least in her dance class :) She is made to feel special and admired and I along with many others have waited so long to see that happen for her. She always has been and it is time that she is shown that. Thanks to Jackie and her friends in her dance class, she will know she is admired every day even when her dance class is only once a week :)

I loved watching the girls dance and sign! Dianne and I had our own little private preview of the recital! The theme will be The Little Mermaid and sealife. I performed my talent song for them as well! It was a great way to spend the evening :)

The Regional Animal Shelter in Fulton County!

Last night I was given the opportunity to join an amazing group of people who have not only made large strides for positive changes for animals, but for the people of our community as well. The regional shelter will be open within a month and there are so many great ideas concerning fundraising! There will be a pet CPR class that will be open to the public and especially veteranarians. I will definitely be taking the class! :) It will be $85.00 a person and one hundred percent of the proceeds will go to the shelter. We discussed microchips which is fairly new to our community. A dog or a cat can be injected with the microchip which has its own number or code. If a pet gets lost, the vet will be able to scan the number on the computer and find out the location of the pet. I think it will prevent a lot of animals from going to the shelter after being seperated from their family. Overall, this organization along with their efforts will be making a huge difference for our community in that they stress spaying and neutering and the shelter will be able to take in and offer services to a lot of animals that would not receive help otherwise. Meetings are every third tuesday of the month at the town hall in Johnstown. We can always use more volunteers!

What an amazing day Saturday was! It was definitely extremely busy and I did wake up at 4:30 am from excitement :p But it was all so worth it! The day started off with a hair appointment at 8. My hair was incredible compliments to Nancy Mcaleese! I then came home to get ready for the Albany St. Patrick's Day parade. Katelynn and rode on a 65 GTO. I overheard the owner say what kind of car it was and was so proud to pretend I knew something about cars! :p The parade was overwhelmed with people! This time thankfully there were no riots. However. there were plenty of adorable dogs! One of the things that is most important when participating in a parade is to make sure you do not miss anyone! People were so comfortable coming up and talking to us and it really made my day. The best thing about the parade was the thousands of smiles in the crowd. People were having a great time and I was a part of the reason they were smiling. It does not get better than that! It was incredible to be a part of the community Katelynn and I are representing.

We were also guests at the Miss Mohawk Valley pageant where the beautiful Miss New York, Kaitlin Monte, co-hosted the pageant. It was so inspiring to sit in the audience and listen to her beautiful words. She is an amazing public speaker! I really admire her for having time for anyone who has questions for her whether it be fellow sisters of the Miss America Organization or a child struggling with bullying. (That is her platform.) She made sure everyone in the audience received the message that you will only shine if you let it come from the inside. We don't need to have expensive gowns, fancy makeup or even a crown on our heads to show the world what is inside of us. I hope a lot of young ladies were able to hear her incredible message. I hope many will get ithe message from reading this blog! You are beautiful <3

The pageant was a blast to watch. Laurie Jean Britton is the field director and she always puts on a great pageant every year. Competing in her pageants is so much fun you almost don't want to leave! This year I sat in the audience and I swear it was more nerveracking than actually competing! I know a lot of the girls who competed quite well and I wanted them all to win! Unfortunately that is not possible :p Third runner up was Jessica Lape, second runner up was Katherine Bant, first runner up was Heather Graves and Courtney Sheridan is our new Miss Mohawk Valley 2012! Lynn Tryon was gorgeous and heartwarming as she always is and her and her mother are two of the most generous and thoughtful people I have ever met. They made my sister queen and I matching pink pearl bracelets which I will most definitely be taking to states as a reminder of all of those who believe in me starting with Lynn and her family <3 Thank you Lynn! Not that I was not planning on putting my all into competing and representing the Albany area..but knowing how much you believe in me will help push me the extra mile! I love you! Also a special thanks to Katelynn's mom and my own mother who spent the entire long day with us taking pictures and being there for anything we have needed. My mother has done this for me since the day I was born and God blessed me with putting her in my life as a key figure and role model.

The day was spent with many people I really love and care about. It was amazing to be able to support those people and the community I am proud of so much in the same day! And to top it all off I came home to my two excited dogs! :p I hope everyone had a GREAT St. Patrick's Day!

one thing I need is a planner! But that is ok. I think that is a quick fix and that just means I have a lot of appearances and events to go to! I can hardly wait to get home and start everything I have planned! I will be attending Miss Mohawk Valley ( good luck everyone! <3)and the Albany's St. Patrick's Day Parade this saturday followed by a possible fashion show at the east greenbush fashion bug on Sunday! On monday I will go to my elementary school where I spent so many years of my life, and I will make my game plan with the principal about what I will be speaking to the children about.
Because my platform promotes animal rights and welfare it almost works as a channel to speak to children about bullying and how we should treat others. I am so excited to spend time with the children and get them started on the activities! Because there is an animal advocacy day I am planning to have them each color a heart with their handprint in the middle of it. We will turn it into a big collage that they will be able to keep in their classroom to remind them about what we talked about. I hope they enjoy it!
There is an event happening at the Broadalbin perth high school called the "pawesome party". It is March 23rd and it starts at 6 pm :) It is a fundraiser for the local animal shelters and homeless pets in our area. There will be concession stands for different types of food, and facepainting as well as a social gathering for animal lovers! That is the best part :p
I will continue to keep everyone updated! You can follow me through my year as Miss Empire Star by reading my blog :) <3

This is Dianne:) She is my coach, best friend, second mom...so many things at once! I am so thankful that God put her in my life at seven years old! somewhere around there! She will give you anything and everything as long as it is not her sequins or rhinestones! haha She is her own Miss America and the most beautiful person inside as well as out! I love her!

I have finally accomplished my goal and I have been crowned Miss Empire Star 2012! My goal does not end there however. I will now compete for Miss New York and hopefully advance to the Miss America pageant! With a platform involving animal rights and the correlation between animal abuse and all other acts of violence, I am hoping to send a broad message to society that we can drastically reduce violence if not ambitiously eliminate it altogether if we are able to recognize these relationships.

The pageant took place at the Shenendohowa senior center and was held in Clifton Park. Janet Murphy is my first executive director! She has a heart of gold and is always concerned about every one of her girls that compete in her pageant and even the girls that aged out and have competed in her pageant in the past. I love all of the pageants I have been involved with but this pageant,I have to say, is such a stress free environment. I was literally running on about three hours of sleep and had so much adrenaline throughout the competition that I did not even feel the fatigue! The girls I was privileged to compete with were both experienced in pageantry and new to pageants altogether! You would have never been able to tell the difference between them! All of them I know will go on to make state proud and will leave an impressionable mark in our system. Trust me you will see! They are amazing!

There were so many people at the pageant that have watched me work for this and have offered me so much advice and support! It meant so much to me and it was so emotionally overwhelming to see how many people are there for me and rooting me on! Jennifer Pollard, Miss Empire Star 2011 has left some big shoes to fill!

Katelynn Smith, my sister queen and long time friend has won the title of Miss Empire Rose 2012 and she has worked so hard as well. She deserves every moment of her win and her year!!!

I have a lot in progress already and I can't wait to get out into my community and spread my platform as well as positivity!

I wish I could post more pictures but unfortunately I tried to add them all in afterwards! :p next time I will do it right!

Recently a friend expresssed the concern to me that a lot of people are unaware of the frequent discrimination of animals that fall into the "banned breed" category. I completely agree with her that this needs to be brought out into the spotlight so here is a little information on the "banned breed" and some explanations as to why they should not be discriminated against when it comes to adoption.

It is important to note that ANY dog of ANY breed will act accordingly to the way they were brought up and the experiences that they had during that time. If a dog is treated with kindness and all of the needs a dog requires are met, they are likely to be of a gentle and loving nature like any other dog would be. But when an animal is put through abuse and horrific situations they are likely to have their guard up. They will be afraid and their instincts will tell them "protect yourself". It is only natural not only in animals but in humans as well. Don't you think back on things you have gone through in your past? Do you think about all of the cautions you have to take to protect yourself from that situation happening again? Humans often put their guard up or block out traumatic events that happened in their lives and animals will do the same no matter what breed they are born into. This is what I am trying to stress to my own community and to everyone on the internet!

Not to get off topic but this subject brings to mind Oreo's law. A female pitbull who was abused repeatedly and eventually thrown off the top of a building by her heartless owner. She survived with two shattered legs and some broken ribs, but she also survived with a fear of humans and the natural reaction that she had to protect herself from all. She was taken in by the ASPCA who nursed her back to health but shortly after they euthanized her despite requests from shelters who offered to take her in and guaranteed her lifetime care. Their reasons for killing Oreo was that she was too aggressive and could not be trusted around humans or other animals. Oreo's law says that the ASPCA is forbidden to put any animal to death if a request to take them in is made by a rescue shelter. The rescue shelter realized that what she went through for her entire life caused her to be aggressive while it doesnt look like the ASPCA took that into consideration...

This is a solid example of how a dog will react to the way they have been treated. Please if you go to a shelter to adopt an animal don't skip the kennel with the pitbull inside. They will be as loyal and loving as any other animal at that shelter as long as they have been cared for properly by the shelter and their history before entering the shelter is not horrendous. Check with the administrators of the shelter about the animal's background as a precaution. These loving animals need homes just as much as the other breeds of dogs who end up in shelters. Don't discriminate by appearance or breed!

http://www.pitbullsontheweb.com/petbull/pospress.php

here is a list of heroic pitbulls that have made a difference in communities everywhere and have changed the stereotype that humans have placed upon their breed :)

Thank you for reading and please recommend this to your friends!

There has been a lot going on in the world of animals and pet owners! Everytime I open the newspaper or log onto a news website there is an article about a brave little animal that survived euthanasia or a change in animal rights legislation! It is so good to see the growing interest in preventing animal abuse and animal activism!!! (shown at right is "Andrea" the cat who's story is mentioned further into the blog)

The new animal shelter on west fulton st in fulton county that received donations in 2007 has finished it's contruction and has been insulated. Great news for fulton county! It will definitely help with the over abundance of animals on the street and the spaying and neutering problem.

One of the things I am most excited about is that it is actually possible to become A KILL SHELTER FREE NATION by 2015!!!! Corporate funds have increasingly gone towards animal causes and have contributed 30 million so far. By 2015 we will have an estimated 70 million. Most of that money will go to spaying and nuetering due to the costs of this procedure most often being too expensive for pet owners. This will then serve as an alternative to euthanization and we will no longer use that method for population control! I cannot stress this piece of advice enough to new pet owners..please do whatever you can to make sure your pet is spayed and neutered so that we can prevent further killings of innocent animals!

I'm not sure how many have heard the inspiring story about a cat named "Andrea" who survived two euthanization attempts in a Utah shelter but if you haven't it is likely to break your heart. Andrea had such a will to live that she survived two attempts of the shelter taking her life. The second time the shelter thought they had succeeded and put her in a bag in a freezer. They soon found that she had thrown up on herself and was still alive. It is sad to think that they would put this innocent animal through two attempts or any attempts at all. Her story grew rapidly and had a happy ending! she was adopted. :) It is stories like hers that should open America's eyes to the need to eliminate kill shelters. They are hideous options to controlling populations and our society is too civil to partake in it. Let her be an inspiration to be a voice for these animals and to join organizations that fight the concept of kill shelters!!

I will be competing in the Miss Fulton County pageant which is a preliminary to the Miss America pageant and throughout my entire pageant career my platform has been preventing animal abuse and neglect. People will often ask me why my platform is not "preventing child abuse" or " preventing abusive relationships". My answer is always that my platform already includes all of that. If we can recognize the relationship between animal abuse and violence in general we are protecting all. One of my major goals is to help my community and beyond to understand the correlation between animal abuse and all other kinds of violence. Ninety- nine percet of criminals in our jails have abused an animal before commiting a crime of another nature that landed them in prison. Anti- social personality disorder is usually to blame for animal abuse ad all crimes against humanity. Some of the most important traits to recognize in this disorder is disregard to all lawful regulations and having no remorse towards the violent crimes they have committed. It really is a scary disorder that exists in the world and our communities need to be aware of it's dangers. The famous "Buster's Law" was named after a tabby cat that was set on fire by a 16 yearold named chester williamson. In Chester's life since, there has been a lengthy list of crimes and in his past before hurting "Buster" a lengthy list of animal abuse incidents. :/ This is just one of many examples!

Lastly I'd just like to say that if you ever see an animal being abused or are suspicious please do not be afraid to be their voice! It is important to report anonomously for your own safety because people who abuse animals intentionally are usually dangerous. Some animals will never know love, kindness, comfort or companionship but you may be the only reason they do.

SPREAD THE WORD! We can accomplish both a kill shelter free nation and preventing violence in our communities! Thanks so much for reading!

Danielle <3