Miss California 2017 Orientation

Wow! What an amazing weekend at orientation for Miss California 2017. It seemed that the 48 hours went by in a blur. I left Alamo excited and ready to meet all of the incredible contestants, and I returned home even more excited and ready for the next 76 days until I embark again for the city of Fresno to compete for my dream job.

My director Gabino picked me up on Friday evening, and along with Miss North Bay, Miss Napa County, and the Miss Napa County director Sarah, we headed off to the magical land of Fres-yes! It was surreal to return to the Doubletree Fresno after competing two years ago... It feels like a lifetime ago that I represented Ventura County at Miss California 2015! Immediately we reunited with old friends and made new ones.

Saturday began at 6:00 AM, and with Jordin Sparks and Jesse McCartney classics blaring through our hotel room, Cheyenne and I got ready for the busy day ahead. First stop was breakfast (my favorite meal of the day!) and we heard from the Miss California Executive Director, Patricia Murray, about the events of the day. We also heard that the directors would be dancing in our opening number this year...

After breakfast, we jumped straight into the day's activities. Miss California 2016 Jessa Carmack briefed the Miss contestants on the duties and responsibilities of Miss California 2017. It was eye-opening and motivating to hear about all of the things that the titleholder is required to do during her year, from building and strengthening sponsor relationships to managing a busy schedule. I'm grateful that being Miss Bay Area affords me so many opportunities to strengthen these skills today!

After this meeting, we headed to contract review with Patricia Murray, where she discussed our contracts in detail. It was wonderful to meet her and go into depth about her expectations for each of us to uphold excellence as contestants and titleholders. Then we handed in our hostess forms, attended an engaging interview workshop with Elaine Swann, confirmed our talents in talent check, and finally ate lunch! After lunch, we fueled up with some coffee and had our headshots taken before recording audio for our talents and having our swimsuits approved. Gabino and I attended an awesome seminar on scoring and a panel put on by former local and state titleholders. By then it was 4:00 PM and time for a nap... just kidding! We ran upstairs, got dressed for the cocktail party and dinner, and joined everyone in the dining room.

Dinner was a blast and we participated in the "Lucky Duck" raffle, a fundraiser with amazing prizes. While our table wasn't too lucky, Sarah won a gift card! So that was quite exciting for #TeamLopez. Also at dinner, we found out that the dancing directors was just an April Fools prank... I still think it would be a good idea though!

After dinner, we got cozy in our pjs and played Minute to Win It games with Jessa. I loved getting to just hang out with the amazing women in the Miss California Class of 2017 and I'm so grateful that we had the chance to do so. Jessa also answered our questions and gave us more advice before we headed up to sleep for the night.

Sunday meant a 5:40 AM wakeup time, so we could pack up and head to breakfast before our first dance rehearsal at 7:30 AM! Season Cavalla Cooper is our choreographer this year and she is an absolute doll. Her choreography is fun and catchy, and I actually started to get the hang of it (with my two left feet this is a big deal). After our dance rehearsal, we headed to a contestant meeting, before returning to dance one more time. At noon, we had a farewell meeting, and after snapping some class photos, we were off to the Bay!

Orientation was incredible and we could all see how much work the state board, committee, and volunteers had contributed to make it a success. In less than 48 hours, I was so inspired by each person that I met and I left feeling motivated and ready for Miss California. The countdown is real, and I'm excited to continue growing, serving, and learning over the next two and a half months.

Thanks for reading!
xo,
Jane