Pageantry itself has greatly aided in personal self-discovery since pageant preparation is a transformative experience. When preparing for an interview, you need to get to know yourself in a completely different and unconventional way. It isn’t every day that you’re asked, “If you could enact a law tomorrow, what would it be?” Once you feel prepared and confident, interviews begin to feel like conversations, and the nerves dissolve.
BRAVE is crucial in building and solidifying personal connections. My favorite part about BRAVE is the meaning behind the acronym itself, “Building Respect and Values for Everyone,” The word “building” is in the progressive tense, which shows that this process is ever-changing and constant. It is imperative that we are continuously learning and opening our eyes to the experiences of others. It’s important to not only recognize the issues others may face, but to fight for justice and become part of the solution. In order to truly respect others, we must not only treat them kindly, but uplift them as well. We must learn we are not each other’s competition, but each other’s allies, cheerleaders, and advocates. I promote the BRAVE platform through My Brave Blog. When I was 17 years old, I created Confidence Camp: a 7-week program to empower young girls and teach them about self-love. We played games, created vision boards, and wrote letters to Suited for Success, a non-profit that provides women with professional clothing and career development services. In addition to these activities, we kept journals throughout the entire process. This allowed for daily self-reflection, documenting achievements, and outlining future goals. Currently, I post journal entries on my blog that promote confidence and self-love in hopes of reaching more people. These entries allow my readers to reserve time during their day to check-in with themselves. My goal is to inspire someone to take the first step towards unconditional self-love. When we are confident in ourselves, we are able to uplift others, and fully embody all of the core values BRAVE promotes.
0 Comments
Hello, I am Jillian Rhae Maxwell, Miss Mississippi Collegiate America. I am a freshman at the
University of Mississippi. I am a double major in Broadcast Journalism & Marketing. I currently serve as VP of Marketing for my sorority, Alpha Phi. I am also a part of the Marketing team for MPower Extended Orientation on my school’s campus. BRAVE has a much bigger meaning to me than just Anti-Bullying. I like to think of BRAVE as a common kindness platform. I like to discuss common things that can change people’s lives. These things are so little, such as a smile to someone who needs one, holding the door for someone, sitting with the new kid at lunch, or simply asking if anyone needs an extra hand. I try to stress the importance of being kind to everyone because you do not know what they may be going through. My BRAVE presentation consists of reading an Anti-Bullying story explaining BRAVE, explaining how to implement it into everyday life, and finally wrapping up with a question and answer session. I have found this to be the most effective way to reach students. I am looking forward to continuing my BRAVE program along with other things I enjoy doing: writing cards to nursing homes and donating items needed by animal shelters and local food pantries. I love being involved in my community and making a difference.
It wasn’t until I was older that I came across personal development books and audio that helped shape me to be the person I am today. I have learned to accept my differences and those characteristics that make me, me. This is why I have started my personal training business called Beautiful By Design. Through this, I help others be the best version of themselves. I have to be an excellent example for those that look up to me, which is essential for me and my business. Reading and listening to positive messages daily, I could finally see how much it impacted my life, which is why as Miss California Collegiate America 2021, I will continue to spread this beautiful message of self-love. This can be anything from eating right, working out, or even positive self talk. When we do that, we can see the beautiful and positive characteristics of every person we come across.
Because of the MHSA organization, I can share my story. Here is mine: I was bullied because of my height because I was “Too Tall” and because I was a “Giraffe.” I was young and didn’t know how to tell the bully to stop. Before Miss High School America came into my life I was scared the bully would hurt me. I now help people of all ages overcome Bullying. I started to feel scared when I was around my bully, so my parents put me in jiu-jitsu. In jiu-jitsu, I now get to teach younger kids about how to defend yourself against a bully, as well as share my story! I have been doing jiu-jitsu for almost 5 years now and I love every second of it! I hope you enjoyed reading my story!
BRAVE has empowered me and reminded me that being unique is beautiful. In pageantry, I have found a community of amazing women who constantly uplift me and remind me I am capable of anything.
I had experienced bullying as many others have but I wasn’t always sure how to fight it or how to make a change. I was honored to be crowned Miss Wisconsin High School America 2021, and that really gave me a way to get out and make a difference. I started reading to and taking to classrooms of kids and reminding them that being different is nothing to be ashamed of. I’m even starting my series interview girls in and out of the Miss High School America System. Rude comments can be so damaging, but they should also be your motivation to be respectful towards everyone and fight that bullying with kindness. I truly believe the root of bullying is insecurity. That is why it’s my goal to empower as many people as possible. When you feel confident in yourself, you only want to lift others up. The best way to fight bullying is help others find their own self worth and their own confidence. Building others up is how we truly build respect and values for everyone.
The acronym B.R.A.V.E stands for Building Respect and Values for Everyone. This acronym means to me more than just a platform, but it is truly a lifestyle. This platform gives the opportunity for myself as well as other titleholders to shine a light on the importance of having respect and values for not only yourself, but the individuals around you as well. Through this platform, I’m able to use my past experiences to educate others on how to understand that what makes you different makes you beautiful.
During my reign as Miss New Jersey Collegiate America, I will be taking B.R.A.V.E internationally to impoverished communities where as some do lack the education of respectful social skills. Through my Gotta Have Faith Foundation that supports orphanages and schools in Haiti I will be implementing B.R.A.V.E presentations virtually and sending B.R.A.V.E care packages to teach them that where they come from doesn’t define them! It’s so important that these students understand that despite their situation they can make the best of any circumstance by having a positive attitude and respecting one another. I’m so grateful to the Miss High School America Organization for creating this incredible platform to encourage people across the nation to create respectable environments for everyone. Always remember that no matter what you look like or where we come from, we were all created for our own special purposes. Embrace who you are and embrace those around you.
This mission is why I started “Larissa’s Virtual Reading Corner” for preschool and young school-aged children, where the themes in the books we read are “be kind”, ”be brave”, and “be you”. I believe it is empowering for children to learn this and live this. This message is what the B.R.A.V.E. platform is about, lifting each other up, appreciating each other’s differences, and learning from one another. I am so honored to represent Miss Texas High School America and be associated with the Miss High School America Organization whose national platform is B.R.A.V.E. Building Respect and Values for Everyone.
I was fortunate enough to win the title of Miss Oregon Jr High and to start promoting the B.R.A.V.E platform. Honestly without that title I would still be in that situation and wouldn't be as confident in pageantry as I am today. They always made me feel as though I needed to hide that part of my life, but through promoting the B.R.A.V.E platform I not only taught building respect and values for everyone to kids and students but I taught it to myself. With the brave platform I was able to be more open about my time in pageantry and open up about what I do rather than hiding it. I learned to respect myself and value the things I am most proud of in life, as well as learning that I need to be surrounding myself with people who make me feel included and supported rather than feeling like less than them.
In the last two years of promoting the B.R.A.V.E platform I have been able to combine my own platform #itskooltobekindwithkaydence which reminds students and people to always be kind no matter the situation with the B.R.A.V.E platform. When I go into classrooms or do zoom presentations I always talk about one thing, being an upstander not a bystander. This means be the person who says something when someone is being bullied, be the person who stops the aggressor and helps the victim, not the person who sits back and watches the bullying happen. Through the B.R.A.V.E platform I have had the opportunity to hold 3 B.R.A.V.E assemblies at my local elementary school, talk with principals and teachers of my locals schools about B.R.A.V.E, talk to many classrooms in my community about B.R.A.V.E and what it stands for, but one thing I got to help with that I will never forget is when a group of fourth graders came to me with the idea of starting a B.R.A.V.E club at their school. I got the opportunity to work with them and help them spread the B.R.A.V.E message around their school through their club. That moment I knew I HAD made a difference and the B.R.A.V.E message was being heard in my community. This year I was given the opportunity to go back to nationals as MIss Wyoming High, that meant another year of promoting B.R.A.V.E and having the opportunity to spread the message of B.R.A.V.E and #itskooltobekindwithkaydence even more throughout my community. |
RSS Feed