On May 27th I had the wonderful opportunity of helping The Lake of the Ozarks’ Kiwanis raise money on  Peanut Day! The Kiwanis is an organization that helps raise money for local children. They hold various events throughout the year such as “Christmas for Kids.” The Kiwanis also give away scholarships to high school graduates.  Peanut Day was a very fun way to raise money! I’d never been a part of something like this before, so it was a great first experience to have! The other Lake title holders and I, along with our pageant director Wendy White, stood at a large intersection and asked drivers at stop lights for donations.  For every donation, we gave a little bag of peanuts. Since it was Memorial weekend, we had a great turn out! The lake residents, as well as visitors were very generous and friendly!

On Saturday, we had the Miss Lake of the Ozark, and Miss Osage River Send-off Party! It was so much fun! I am so blessed to be a part of such a generous and loving pageant family. This week is Miss Missouri and Miss Missouri’s Outstanding Teen State Pageant!! I am very excited to see all of my friends again!

God Bless! Praying for those who were caught in tornado disaster.

With much love,

McKensie Lane Garber

Miss Lake of the Ozarks Outstanding Teen 2011

Director- Wendy White, Miss Osage River's OT-Kelby Czerwonka, Miss Lake of the Ozarks' OT-McKensie Garber, Miss Osage River- Jessica Arl, and Miss Lake of the Ozark- Malorie Howe

Some puppy wanted peanuts!

Today was my last day of school for this year and today was also a day full of cupcakes! Kupcakes for Kids that is! Through advertisement, a lot of baking, and coloring of balloons, today I sold two hundred cupcakes benefitting Children’s Miracle Network.  The community of Hale was so supportive with this project. For each cupcake sold each person signed a CMN Balloon to display support for this organization.  It was so great spreading awareness of the Miss America’s Outstanding Teen Organization and its partnership with Children’s Miracle Network.  I am so glad that this fundraiser turned out to be such a success. My goal was to sell all two hundred cupcakes and that goal was accomplished! Chocolate and white cupcakes were sold one per dollar or a dozen for $10.00. The cupcakes were displayed in the design of the CMN Balloon. I had a lot of fun baking and frosting all of the cupcakes! I am so blessed to be a part of something such as the Children’s Miracle Network.  It’s amazing how generosity and hard work can make a difference in other lives.

Thank you for reading my blog! Happy summer!

Love,

McKensie Lane Garber

Miss Lake of the Ozarks Outstanding Teen

I taped a balloon on the wall for each trait, and on the balloon was a clue that related to the character trait.  The clues were analogies or hints I’d taught the students throughout the year to help them remember all of the traits. For example, on one of the balloons there was an Abraham Lincoln hat for Honesty and Integrity and on another balloon there was a shoe for Compassion -”Walking in Someone Else’s Shoes.” I was so impressed by how well the kids did with this activity! They all remembered the traits and activities very well!

The students had a lot of fun with this and we all got a good laugh watching students pop the balloons, especially when it took more than one try.  Our new traits for May are Perseverance and Patience.  I told the students about Michael Jordan and how he didn’t make the basketball team in high school.  The fact that he failed only pushed him to try harder every day. Whenever he felt like giving up or not training, he would just envision his name not being on that roster in the locker room. He showed great perseverance and patience to reach his goal in life and made it the NBA.

We also did our “Citizenship Rap” to review the importance of service and patriotism. We reviewed all of our pillar traits, and our foundation of respect, which holds up our roof of Hale R-1 School’s success.  It has been such an incredible opportunity for me to speak to the entire Hale School Elementary every month on a new character trait.  Today I could feel the impact that this had made on their lives, and therefore, mine.

“I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”-Michael Jordan

Love,

Kensie Lane Garber

Miss Lake of the Ozarks Outstanding Teen

This past Friday, on May 6th, I had such a wonderful day at the Eldon Middle School “Get High on  Life Fair!”  This event is held every three years to encourage students to be above the influence of drugs and alcohol and to strive for success.  There were fun activities outside and in the gymnasium, there were many booths of different interests that the students could do activities at.  The Miss Lake of the Ozarks Scholarship Program had its own booth there! At our booth, we emphasized on the four points of the crown- Style, Service, Scholarship, and Success. We also emphasized on the Outstanding Teen objectives- Community Involvement, Scholastic Acheivement, Creative Accomplishment, and Healthy living for today’s teens.  I also had a character poster with the character trait pillars, foundation of respect, and roof of success to spread awareness of my platform “Promoting Good Character Among Americans.”

We also had a “Success Quiz” at our booth, where the students could answer questions and find out their score of how ambitious they are and how they can improve on reaching their goals.  This quiz also gave examples of influential who share the same traits as them, such as Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, and Eleanor Roosevelt.  The students received candy and inspirational quote stickers for their participation and enthusiasm. 

The Eldon Middle School was so hospitable and generous.  I met with the FBLA Advisor and am excited to speak to their school chapter during the next school year. I enjoyed meeting all of the students and speaking with inspirational people all day.  I was touched by some of the booths at this event myself. It was such a fun day and I am honored and blessed to have been a part of it!

“Excellence is to do something common in an uncommon way.”- Booker T. Washington

Thank you for reading my blog!

Happy Mother’s Day!

Love,

Kensie

Miss Lake of the Ozarks Outstanding Teen

Students taking the Success Quiz

My platform poster on character

We did activities on Compassion and “Walking in Someone Else’s Shoes.” I also spoke to them about being like “Honest Abe”, and how being truthful inspires others to look up to, as if you were as tall as Abraham Lincoln.  For Cooperation and Teamwork, the members had to make giant pictures with their bodies! The members made a fish. I told them that one fish would be more vulnerable to a shark, but together as a team, they appear as a giant fish or a whale! This teaches kids to stick up for each other and to take a stand against bullying. I also educated the members on Tolerance and Self-Control as well.  And of course I had to teach them my Citizenship Rap!

“Citizenship you know it’s good! Citizenship from the house to the hood! Citizenship it’s every where! We show service! We like to care!” And we added a new Liberty 4-H Club twist to the end of it by saying, “Liberty 4-H Club” and doing wacky poses.

I had such a fun time speaking to the Liberty 4-H Club! I want to congratulate them on winning “4-H Club of the Year” for the second year in a row! I know that these members will continue to make a difference in their community and I am honored to be a part of that inspiring task.

God bless!

Love,

Kensie Lane Garber

Miss Lake of the Ozarks Outstanding Teen 2011

On April 9th I had the privilege of being a part of The Miss Dogwood Pageant in Camdenton, MO. I had a blast performing two dances during the pageant and meeting all of the contestants!  It was great sharing this experience with my sister queens Kelby Czerwonka-Miss Osage River Outstanding Teen and Jessica Arl- Miss Osage River. During Intermission, I was able to sign autograph cards and spread more awareness about the Miss America Outstanding Teen Organization.

Congratulations to Cori Robinson on being crowned Miss Dogwood 2011!  She will be a part of the Dogwood Festival and earns a $1,000 Scholarship.  She also has opportunities to compete in Miss Teen Missouri USA and the State Fair Pageant. Good luck Cori in all you do this year! I also had the privilege of meeting Whitney Marie Reese, Miss Dogwood 2010. All of the contestants did a fabulous job! It was such a fun weekend, and I was blessed to a part of The 2011 Miss Dogwood Pageant.

Have a beautiful day!

McKensie Lane Garber

Miss Lake of the Ozarks Outstanding Teen

Whitney Marie Reese- Miss Dogwood 2010

 

Cori Robinson- Miss Dogwood 2011

 

This past Saturday, I enjoyed going to the Lake of the Ozarks for their St. Patrick’s Parade! It was a fun father-daughter day for my dad and I! It was great seeing my sister queens Kelby and Jessica, my director Wendy, and other Lake board members! It was such a beautiful, warm day at the lake.  All of the people were decked out in green and the atmosphere was just so fun and festive! I wanted to take a picture with the big “Lake of the Ozarks” landscape and three-leaf clover, so we pulled over on the highway and I climbed huge rocks to get up there! Like I said, it was such a fun day! I had a blast riding in the parade and throwing candy to all of the little kids in green. I cannot wait to go back to the Lake of the Ozarks!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! May this fun holiday bring you luck ♣

Love,

Kensie Garber

Miss Lake of the Ozarks Outstanding Teen

I didn't climb up there in heals and a skirt or anything...

My parade car!

Today was a great day! It’s a new month for Cardinal Character, so I had the opportunity to hold another fun assembly with the Hale R-1 Elementary to emphasize my platform ”Promoting Good Character Among Americans” through our school Cardinal Character Program.   We reviewed our past month character traits.  All of the traits are pillars that hold up our school, and RESPECT is the foundation! We did our Citizenship rap again! That is always fun for the kids!

Next, we went on to our new traits.  For Compassion, we talked about genuinely caring for the well-being of others and understanding that everyone is different.  We did an activity “Walking around in another persons shoes.” This helps students understand what it means to sympathise with another person.  A 6th Grader, Haze tried to fit into tiny 1st Grader, Carter’s shoes, but couldn’t fit into them, and Haze’s shoes were big on Carter. Everyone is different and we must be accepting of others and try to understand what they are going through!

Compassion

Walking Around in Someone Else's Shoes

Then I spoke about Self-Control.  5th Grader Casper, came down and we did an activity with cake! We pretended that Casper was at recess playing ball, so he took a bite of the cake (having fun), and someone came up and said something mean and hit his ball away. Casper probably initially wanted to say something back, and get the last word in (get the whole cake), but that wouldn’t be the way to win the cake.  If he did that, then “SPLAT!” I dumped the cake on the floor. But, if Casper was the bigger person and was friendly back, he wins the cake of strong character and friendship! So Casper got a big slice of cake.

Self-Control Wins the Cake

The last thing they learned about was Honesty and Integrity. I told them to think of “Honest Abe”, if you are honest and truthful, you will become tall with strong character and others will look up to you. I asked them to think about how wonderful of a place the world would be if everyone was always honest and loving.

Have a great day! I hope you enjoyed reading my blog, and learning some new character activities!

Love,

Kensie Garber

Miss Lake of the Ozarks Outstanding Teen

Character Pillars Holding up Our School

Citizenship Rap!

See how our traits have grown!

Our character chain goes all the way around the hall! Each random act of kindness noticed receives a link!

The past two weeks, I have had the pleasure of working with the Hale R-1 3rd, 4th, and 5th Grades on a fun project!  This is the “Yes, You “CAN” Make Missouri Litter Free” Trash Can Decorating Contest to raise awareness about Missouri’s litter problem and discourage littering.  This is through Missouri’s litter-prevention program coordinated by the Missouri Departments of Conservation and Transportation. For this, we decorated a 30- gallon trash can for our school and our theme was “Don’t Be a Grouch! No MOre Trash!”  Our mascot for our can was Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street!! It was so much fun to complete this project.  It took three balls of yarn to make that big guy fuzzy!!

This was a great project to amplify my platform “Promoting Good Character Among Americans” in my school!  While working on this, I spoke to the students about the importance of Citizenship, Service, and Caring for our school, community, and state.  We watched silly videos of Oscar on Sesame Street to gain inspiration and had a lot of fun learning about ways to make Missouri a cleaner and healthier place for everyone. One entry from each competition category will be selected to receive a $100 award.  All first place winners will be eligible for the grand prize award of $500 and a trophy if chosen.  Even if the Hale trash can doesn’t win, it will be displayed at our school.  I feel that the students have won the prize of strong character and appreciation for our environment. I hope you enjoy our creative project and thank you for reading my blog!

Love,

Miss Lake of the Ozarks Outstanding Teen

Kensie

Hale R-1 3rd, 4th, and 5th Grades

Don't Be a Grouch! No MOre Trash!

Meet Oscar, Mister Lake of the Ozarks Outstanding Teen

Over Christmas Break, on December 29, 2010, I had the privilege to be on The Wave Radio Station- 101.9!! It was so exciting! My sister queen, Miss Lake of Ozarks Malorie  Howe also did the interview. I didn’t realize until we arrived at the station that it would be live!!! What an adrenaline rush! We were interviewd by Ed Foxmeyer, who was a lot of fun to talk with. I shared a little bit about what the Miss America’s Outstanding Teen Program emphasizes in teens today, appearances I’ve made at the Lake, my small home town of Hale, and my platform “Promoting Good Character Among Americans.” I also spoke about the week of state, when I will be competing for Miss Missouri’s Outstanding Teen, and what to look forward to! I thought it was funny when he asked me my favorite kind of fast food (none of course ! And also when he asked me what kind of music I listen to! I had a lot of fun speaking on the radio! What a great opportunity to share a morning with the locals that tuned in.

After the radio interview I took fun pictures at D and J Photography studio with my sister queens!

Happy beginning of a new year and thank you for reading my blog!

Love from a town blanketed in snow,

Kensie

Miss Lake of the Ozarks Outstanding Teen 

The Wave Radio Station at the Lake of the Ozarks