Roughin' it and exciting news!

After heading off for a week of "scrubin' it" at camp as a high school counselor and Division Director (overseeing the other high school counselors and campers) I was ready for the real world of showers and looking lovely.

It was wonderful to see old camp friends and during a week full of archery, riflery, horsemanship, and whittling; my class entitled "Princess Party" was a welcomed reprieve for those little girls who just need a bit extra attention. We made princess crafts (foam crowns and door hangers), painted picture frames that included a print of them wearing one of my three crowns. They had tea parties, learned Princess Principles, performed a song for the camp entitled "Aristocrats," and memorized verses that taught us, "He is the King of kings and Lord of lords" and that we are "Children of God" therefore we are "Daughters of the King" and "that makes us princesses".

Our Princess Principles were as follows:
1. Princesses always say, "thank you."
2. Princesses love God and love people.
3. Princesses are always polite.
4. Princesses try everything once.
5. Princesses share of themselves.

The girls were delighted to get to see and wear my crowns and they believed the highlight was getting my autograph.

What a delight to get to share my title and experience with young ladies in that way.

I also did a wonderful appearance at a retirement center in Moses Lake with Miss Moses Lake, Sara Rosborough (our 2007 Miss Congeniality), Elizabeth Lamb-Ferro, Miss Spokane, and my teammate Megan Hornbuckle, Miss Kitsap. We performed for them, including my Miss Poulsbo talent, a bilingual monologue called, "The Coat of Many Colors" and my Miss Washington piece a vocal performance entitled, "All For You" from Seussical the Musical. The residents thoroughly enjoyed the performances and receiving autographs. Sara's adopted grandmother was there wearing a crown and sporting a photograph of Sara on her walker. What a priceless opportunity. Thank you to the group in Moses Lake for setting it up.

We then headed to see Charlotte Smith - Miss Tri Cities 2006 and 3rd runner up to Miss Washington - give up her title. She wowed us with vocal performances (The Star Spangled Banner, a Rascal Flatts song, and my favorite "Legacy" by Nicole Nordeman) along with her Miss Washington violin performance. She was an incredible Miss Tri Cities and will go so far no matter what she puts her mind to.

Congratulations to the new Miss Tri Cities, whose name escapes me at this moment, she is a well deserving, eloquent, graceful, and talented (saxophone player) young woman. I look forward to watching you compete at state next year!

Now that I am back to reality I was going through mail and found a letter from Miss America.
It read, "Alexander, congratulations on being the recipient of the Miss America Community Service Scholarship..."

Now if you watched Miss Washington you would understand my confusion at receiving this letter. My well-deserving friend Tina Faulkner had been awarded this scholarship on the Miss Washington stage that night. She has worked in her platform for over 5 years so of course her being given this award came as no surprise to me.

After getting the letter I contacted the state Executive Director for clarification. She relayed to me that I had actually won the award. The state will still award Tina the $1,000 but I was thrilled to find out that I was actually chosen by the Miss America Scholarship board as the recipient of this incredible honor.

Going into the experience the community service award is the one award that I truly desired to win. It is an honor because it is awarded from a national board but also because of why you receive the award. I submitted an essay about my platform, "Unifying the Differently Abled: Adapted Aquatics" and two letters of recommendation. One came from a member of the North Kitsap School Board who had helped me secure the location for my North Kitsap Adapted Aquatics Program and the other from a Red Cross Coordinator who came and trained my volunteers.

The letters were so generous and spoke of the ladies faith in my program and in what we are accomplishing here in Kitsap County to "Unify the Differently Abled."

I am so incredibly honored to have received this award and congratulate Tina Faulkner on all she has done for her "Big Brothers - Big Sisters" platform in her community.

To view all the other awards given visit http://misswashington.org/miss_site/finalists_winners.asp

I will be in the Silverdale Whaling Days parade this weekend and looking forward to heading to Creation Music Festival in George, Washington this week as well. A bit more "roughin' it" while camping and hearing some fabulous music!


Blessings to all, Alex Duchemin