Pageant Week Day 2

Miss Minnesota Pageant Week Day 2 Update:

After a somewhat restless night I woke up bright and early at 6:00am. I was able to squeeze in an early workout and skim some current events before we were loaded into stretch limos and whisked off to our daily activities. 

We started our day with a visit to Gillette Children's Hospital, our Children's Miracle Network hospital here in Minnesota. He had the pleasure of listening to the parents of Minnesota's CMN Champion Michael who was born with Apert syndrome, a genetic disorder that affects limb development. This family's story was so touching and Michael was such a joy to meet, he was a happy, silly and bursting with energy and life just like any other nine-year-old! For me its moments like these that are the most worthwhile. I want to thank everyone who has ever donated to CMN and had generously helped families like Michaels. 

Photo Credit: Sarah Morriem Photography

For more information on Michael and other CMN Champions please visit http://childrensmiraclenetworkhospitals.org/About/Champions/2014/MN

After a tour of the facility and some fun times interacting with the kids in the waiting room, we left Gillette and were back to the hotel for a full afternoon of rehearsing our opening number routine. 

Tonight we got to loosen up and have lots of fun at a St. Paul Saints baseball game! We sat along the third base line and had a great view. On our way back from the game we had an impromptu dance party/sing-along on the bus, even our chaperones and board members joined in on this lighthearted fun, this was the perfect end to our day, lots of bonding and lots of laughs!

Fargo Moorhead Ladies

Photo Credit: Sarah Morriem Photography

Sweet Dreams all! Until tomorrow.

Maren Goff 

Miss Moorhead 2013

Pageant Week Day 1

Hey there friends, family, fans, and anyone else who may stumble upon this! Its that time of year again…The Miss Minnesota Scholarship Pageant is once again in full swing and 25 contestants from all corners of the state have come together to vie for the coveted title of Miss Minnesota 2014! For the past year I have had the privilege of representing Moorhead, Minnesota my lovely college town (GO DRAGONS!) and as the week progresses I will be blogging brief pageant week updates to keep everyone in the loop! Wish me luck! 

Miss Minnesota Pageant Week Day 1 Update:  

Today was check-in day, after arriving at our lovely sponsored hotel I was able to get settled into my surprisingly spacious room. After catching up with my roommate Miss Northwest, Chantal Wilson and all of the other great gals we made a quick wardrobe change into something more casual for a night of fun at Mall of America! During our tour of Barbie's Dream House I was tempted to stay; it truly was every little girls dreams…and most twenty-somethings if we're being completely honest. Now that my inner eight-year-old had began to surface MOA decided to fuel that fire just a little more by presenting us with wristbands for Nickelodeon Universe! I was plummeted to the ocean floor on the Spongebob roller coaster, whipped around on the Avatar ride and myself and a few others even braved the Log Chute. Lucky for us we emerged nearly completely dry, with the exception of a few drops. We wrapped up our night with a great meal, games and bowling at Skydeck! In true pageant fashion we were even able to catch some of the Miss USA pageant on tv while bowling, I think the glitz and glam got us all a little more excited for the week ahead.

Check-in!

Five lovely Brainerd ladies competing and Miss Minnesota 2013...Also from Brainerd!

See you tomorrow and make sure to check out the Miss Minnesota Scholarship Pageant facebook for more great photos from our photographer Sarah Morriem!

Maren Goff

Miss Moorhead 2013

Contestant Orientation and Miss Minnesota's Outstanding Teen

Greetings!

The warm weather that we’ve been experiencing here in Moorhead has got me finally feeling like spring has sprung! I’ve been able to take my runs outside, at the expense of my shoes due to all the puddles and mud, and I have even been able to bust out a pair of my flip flops. I also had a photography session with the fantastic Gabe Haney of Haney's Photography in Moorhead, the results were absolutely killer. Thanks Gabe!

My 2014 Miss Minnesota Headshot! Photo Credit: Haney's Photography 

This past weekend was a big one for me, as it was contestant orientation for the Miss Minnesota Class of 2014 and the 2014 Miss Minnesota's Outstanding Teen Pageant. Here’s the play by play…

Accompanied by my parents we headed to Eden Prairie late friday night. I spent the car ride and down time at our checking and double checking my paperwork for grammatical and spelling errors, and when i finally decided it was up to my standards I was finally able to go to bed. I’ll admit that friday night I didn't sleep easy, as I was too excited for the events of the next day.

The next morning we arrived at Eden Prairie High School where the contestants, directors and families were greeted by members of the state board and other volunteers. After turning in our paperwork the official program began with a warm welcome and lots of great information from our Executive Director, Kathy. We learned about the job requirements, the week of the competition and judging process and somehow we even managed to sneak in a “get-to-know-you” game hosted by the awesome Luke and Brenda, Minnesota’s always energetic judges coordinators! The contestants also had a chance to break away from the rest of the group for an informal chat with our reigning Miss Minnesota, Rebecca Yeh. I can’t begin to state how grateful I am for Rebecca’s genuineness and honesty, I know that she really put all my doubts to ease with her insights and her ability to be candid and real with all of her advice…and boy is that girl funny! Thank you Rebecca, Minnesota is lucky to have you. After our contestant chat we received our order of competition and our roommate, I am contestant number 22 and my roommate is the lovely Miss Northwest Chantal Wilson!

Thanks for tagging along dad!

My roommate Chantal!

After contestant orientation I was able to get in a little R and R before getting glammed up for the Miss Minnesota's Outstanding Teen Pageant. It was great to finally appear with all of the other Miss contestants as a completed class. I am so astonished and proud of how well all of the teens performed at the pageant, in Minnesota we truly have some beautiful, articulate and talented young women. It makes me smile to know that someday these teens are the ones who will carry our program! First of all I have to congratulate my Miss Moorhead’s Outstanding Teen Sage for a job well done. Sage was stunning on stage in evening gown, her musical theatre talent had the perfect amount of coy humor paired with her her sweet and sassy vocals! I couldn't be more proud of my little sister queen. Next a huge congratulations to my former little sister queen Lizzy Thurlow! Lizzy placed as the first runner up and won overall interview and the scholastic achievement award. I have seen Lizzy grow and progress on her journey and I am so proud that this girl who has faced such adversity in her life has become such a well rounded and wonderful young woman, Congrats! And lastly congrats to Lauren Algyer, our new Miss Minnesota’s Outstanding Teen, you were brilliant onstage and I cant wait to get to know you and follow your year!

So proud of you Lizzy!

My biggest supporter! Love you mom!

That’s all for now!

Maren Goff

Miss Moorhead 2013

Pageants and Pancakes

Happy friday everyone!

With contestant orientation, workshop, and the 2014 Miss Minnesota Outstanding Teen Pageant coming up TOMORROW I have to catch you up on what I’ve been doing as your Miss Moorhead 2013!

Lets start with february 14th,  valentines day! I spent the day of love in a place that I truly love...My hometown! I traveled home for the 42nd annual Miss Nisswa Scholarship Pageant. The Miss Nisswa pageant is a stand alone local pageant put on by the Nisswa Women of Today. This event has always been near and dear to my heart, it was the very first pageant I ever participated in (I was the first runner-up) and it is a tradition that I try to make it home for every year. Congrats to Miss Nisswa 2014 Ellie Erholtz!

Does your favorite food have a national holiday? Mine sure does! March 4th was IHOP’s International Pancake Day benefitting the Children’s Miracle Network. I spent the day at the Fargo IHOP with some Minnesota and North Dakota queens. We had a blast greeting customers coming in for their free Pancakes and bringing in donations for CMN!

In other news, I ran my second every 5k on St. Patricks day in Crosslake! I finished 3 minutes ahead of my last race time!

Wish me luck at orientation!

Maren Goff

Miss Moorhead 2013

A Busy Weekend

Greetings! 

This past weekend was filled with fun events and lots of travel. As your Miss Moorhead I put on over 500 miles crossing the state, heres what I was up to!

On friday the 31st I spent my evening as a volunteer at Sanford Children's Hospital's Cares For Kids Radiothon sponsored by local radio stations Y94 and Froggy 99.9, benefiting the Children's Miracle Network. I was in the phone bank answering calls and taking pledges from some very generous donators. At the end the day the radiothon had raised over 157,000 dollars for the hospital and its kids. 

With the lovely Miss West Fargo Outstanding Teen Carly, and some cute little princesses

With the Y94 gang

That evening I traveled back to my hometown of Brainerd, and the next day I was off to the first ever Miss Chain of Lakes pageant in Blaine, Minnesota. This was the last local of the season, the Miss Minnesota Class of 2014 is now complete. I had such a fun time seeing all of the titleholders, meeting a few for the first time, and sharing lots of laughs with old friends. Congrats to Miss Chain of Lakes Grace Christenson! I can't wait for Miss Minnesota!

Until next time,

Maren Goff

Miss Moorhead 2013

Winter Happenings

The last few months have kept me on my toes…here is a look as what I've been up to as your Miss Moorhead!

I finished my third semester at Minnesota State University Moorhead with flying colors! Though my final projects for my mass communications classes were lengthy and took some in depth work I was able to complete some great final products, I am especially proud of my growing photography portfolio. 

As a much needed break from my finals, I headed to the Twin Cities to see the Minnesota Vikings take on the Philadelphia Eagles! As a huge football fan this was an amazing game to see, the Vikings destroyed the Eagles 48-30, adding a win to their less than impressive regular season record. It was also the second to last game played in the Metrodome, making the experience even better!

I returned home to Brainerd on the 19th of December for my winter break and on the 21st I traveled to the Detroit Lakes area to Salvation Army bell ring with Miss Northwest, Chantal Wilson. Though the weather was cold I had such a great day witnessing the generosity of the community of Detroit Lakes; Miss Northwest and I were completely humbled by the large sum donations that we saw being dropped into our kettle. I have to give a huge thank you to Northwest Director Cindy Moore and Chantal for inviting me to their town to participate in this service event! It was a pleasure meeting Chantal, her kind heart and great personality make me even more excited to spend Miss Minnesota week with the other great girls in the class of 2014!

My winter break went by very quickly, they say time flies when your having fun, but in my world time flies when you work hard and have your nose to the grindstone. During the holiday season I was able to resist the temptation of moms christmas cookies, and completely redefine my idea of a healthy lifestyle, I began eating clean and participating in CrossFit training again! I am proud to say that I am the most physically fit that I have ever been in my entire life, and it is completely due to my own dedication and drive towards an athletic body and lifestyle. My break was also filled with voice lessons, talent practice, and wardrobe prep. I feel so happy with where I am at with my state preparations, and have I been able to keep my stress level low. I am loving life!

After returning to MSUM on January 13th, Ive been busy getting back into the swing of school. I am enjoying all of my new courses, specifically my Public Relations intro course and my creative writing course. For my entire life I have enjoyed writing, reading and storytelling, this is in part a large reason why I chose children's literacy as my platform. Just like reading, writing has always been a creative outlet for me and a way to express myself! 

Aside from school I have become a member of a second CrossFit gym here in Fargo; CrossFit 701! 701 is the largest box in North Dakota, and I absolutely love the positive community atmosphere at this gym. I completed my foundations training on the weekend of January 18th and 19th, and am now an active member…Ive also been making progress, I completed my first rope climb and am now able to do consecutive double unders with the jumprope.

On January 21st I participated in Dine to Donate for the Children's Miracle Network and Sanford Children's. This was the third year that participating Fargo-Moorhead restaurants donated 20 percent of dinner proceeds to Sanford and CMN. I met with other local Minnesota and North Dakota Queens for a delicious meal at Usher's House and Pub in Moorhead! It was so great to meet Miss Fargo, Miss West Fargo, Miss Empire, Miss Carrington and Miss Tioga Farm Festival, and as always I love spending time with my good friend Miss Southern Valley, Savannah! Meagan, Faye, Alyssa, Miranda and Hannah are some very kind and intelligent young women and I look forward to spending some more time with these lovely North Dakota girls during my year as Miss Moorhead. 

Look for me at the Cares for Kids Radiothon, the Miss Chain of Lakes Pageant and the Fargo Polar Plunge for Special Olympics!

So long for now,

Maren Goff,

Miss Moorhead 2013